I- @I Holistic

tamii y I
approaches
to family
literacy facilitate
I

Literacy
@ d
learning
of at-risk families

Marcla de Avila, Donna Lednkky, and Katy Runt

y son never read and now, he’s Bryan ISD campus for nontraditional educational pm
reading.” grams for youth and adults. By offering FIE meeting at
“I’ve gotten enough courage to go out CAPS, parents were able to attend their adult education
and change
%
- my. life.” (GED, ABE, Adult Literacy) classes and their parent gmup
- -
“I now know that you’re never too old to finish school.” meeting at the same location.
These are some of the comments made by the parents
enrolled in the Bryan Independent School District (BISD) Program Design
Family Involvement in Education (FIE) program. Fund- The two-year program’s design involved all membels of
ed by the Texas Education Agency (m), FIE started the the family. Adult education classes and parent group
1989-90school year as one of only five such pilot p m meetings were held for the parents while developmental
grams in the state of Texas and very quickly took on a child care and tutorials we^ offered for the children.
personality all its own. Home visits and family field trips met the needs of the
With a projected attrition rate of 34.14 percent, an family as a unit.
at-risk student population rate of 26 percent and a com- Adult education classes increased the academic skills
munity in which 22.3 percent of the people is classified as of parents, in turn enabling them to better help their
being in poverty, the Bryan school district felt there was children achieve in school. During the two years, over
a serious need for the Family Involvement in Education 100 families participated in the FIE program. In each
holistic approach to family literacy. The Bryan FIE was family, at least one parent (usually the mother) was
designed to facilitatethe learning of at-risk families enrolled in an adult literacy class. The parents enrolled in
whose low educational or economical levels create a defi- Amnesty, English as a Second Language (EL) vocation-
,
cient leaming environment for their children. By improv- al classes, adult litemy, and ABEYGED classes. Classes
ing the parents’ academic skills and providing positive were scheduled in the eveningwith ABEKED also avail-
parenting skills, FIE staff encouraged parents to work able during the morning and afternoon.
Mamh&Aoila&theaa‘ult with their children. Parenting group meeting were held w k l y and
lti%xlcy(%or&* for !he FIE qrated several sitesduring the two years of the included parenting strategies, information on child
Btyany T ~ ~ project. one
~ site was always
! located~at an elementary
l growth and development, community cesource informa-
MIDonna &&
I j d w & f o r h*l
d m adffib’rn12
~
school in an at-risk neighborhood in which a large
majority of the children were from low-income families
that qualify for Chapter I seMm.The second site was
tion, and life skills management. Parenting classes were
held once weekly at each site with classes scheduled for
morning and evening to ensure participation of a max-
W P W a mcoordinalot: housed at the Center for Alternative Programs (CAPS), the imum number of parents. Parents had accessto a libmy
September/October 1993 A 15

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of educational and developmental toys,
books, and videos, which they borrowed for
home use.
Parenting session topics included disci-
pline, self-concept,selfesteem, worlung with
the school, and positive reinforcement. Many
of the parents discovered that, as the year pro-
gressed,they were spending more time reading
with their children. This moved very naturally
into observing,checlung, and helping with
homework. The parents reallzed that, even
without a high school diploma or any literacy
skills, it is still possible to supervise and partic-
ipate in a child’s homework session.
Developmental child care was provided at
no cost to participants for children up to the
age of four while the parents were attending
classes and meetings. Developmental child
care was offered during the hours when the
parents were attending adult education prcr
grams and the FIE parent group meetings. In
developmental cluld care, the curriculum is
specifically designed to aid the child’ssocial,
sociomotor,and cognitive growth. Originally,
child care was provided to the families on a
weekly, full-day basis. This was cut back to five
half days weekly during the second year due to
cost. If child care could be offered on-site at
CAPS, rather than contracting out to private
centers, the amount budgeted for child care
would allow more children to be served. Unfor-
tunately, FIE does not have authorization to
add a child care facility at the CAPSsite. If this
had been possible,the Family Involvementin
Education program would truly have become
a holistic family literacy program.
’Ihtorials were provided for children ages
five through twelve after school at the individ-
ual child’sown campus. nhro dfferent tutor-
ing designswere u t i l d . At one elementary
school site, a daily extended school day pro-
gram provided academic tutoring along with
structured play For children at other schools,
tutoring was offered once a week at the child’s
school, usually by a teacher from that school
staff Close contact was maintained with each
child’sclassroom teacher. Each year, tutorials
served over fifty children with fifteen of those
served through the extended school day
program. Children participating in the FIE
program were allowed to select R d z n g 1;F
Furuhmmtul books each week, which
became theirs to keep. This aspect of the FIE
program motivated children to read while
encouraging parents to read with their
children.
16 A Adult Learning
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Home Visits and Volunteerism
n o unique aspects of the Bryan FIE program
were the home visits and the parent volun-
teers. The home visits included the entire
family and gave the parents a chance to dis-
c u s their concerns, regardless of the topic.
When surveyed at the end of the first year, the
parents stated that they felt that the mentor-
ship and counseling they received was most
beneficial. For many of them, just having
someone to listen to them and help them work
through situations was a crucial issue. The
majority of parents acknowledged that, as
a result of having the home visits, they had
begun to interact with their children in a more
positive manner, utilizing a relaxed, non-
threatening style of communication. As one
parent said, “My child smiles more now’’
Another stated, “I don’t yell anymore.” The
stress of child-rearing had been greatly reduced
in many of the households.
During the first program year, volunteering
as aides in the BISD schoolswas a suggested
activity for the participants;but during the sec-
ond year, it was established as a condition of
receiving free child care . Parents agreed to
volunteer a weekly minimum of three hours
at their child’scampus. One of the parents
moved from hesitant volunteer to parent vol-
unteer coordinator at her child’scampus dur-
ing the term of her FIE involvement.
Famlly Field Trips
Family field trips were offered on Fridays dur-
ing the summer months. At least one parent
had to accompany their children on the trips.
A Bryan ISD school bus transported the fami-
lies to such p l m as the public library, histori-
cal museums, bakeries, an ice cream factory,
Texas A&M University, and a local ranch. The
trips allowed the families to have fun together,
interact with other families, and be actively
involved in experiential learning.
Evaluation
FIE program objectives were (1) to assist at-
risk familieswith parenting strategies, (2) to
assist adults in raising their educational levels,
(3) to educate at-risk parents about commu-
nity mum and encourage volunteerism,
and (4) to provide child care and tutorial ser-
vices to at-risk children.
All parents attended and 56 percent (n=76)
completed the weekly parenting meetings.
Although this figure seems low, only one par-
ent per family was required to attend the
sessions.When surveyed about the program,
the parents responded that the topics they
found most effective dealt with positive disci-
pline, selfesteem, and working with the
child’sschool.
At least one parent from each family had to
enroll in an adult education program. Depend-
ing on their individual needs, the parents
enrolled in either GED, English literacy, or
vocationaVtechmca1 classes. Some were able
to enroll concurrently or consecutively in sev-
eral types of classes. At the end of the FIE pro-
gram period, sutty-two adults had completed
at least 50 percent of the GED test preparation
materials. Five people passed the entire GED
battery, another five passed at least one or
more parts of the battery, and still another five
had scheduled appointments to take the exmi.
The remaining fortyseven people had shown
at least three years of academic growth in the
areas of readmg, math, and writing and were
enrolled to continue attending GED classes.
’henty-two had completed at least one level of
an adult English as a Second Language (ESL)
program, and seventy-six had received certifi-
cates of completion in short-term vocational
courses.These c o u m were in computer skills,
clerical skills, health-related professions, and
mechanical programs. Eighteen had entered
the local community college vocational
program.
Developmental child care was provided for
ninety-four preschoolers,and one hundred
forty children, five to twelve yem of age,
attended at least one of the children’s activi-
ties. A minimum of fifty per year were served
in after school tutorials. Additionally, the chil-
dren were invited to attend the evening tutor-
ing sessions and the summer family field trips.
Although it is not unusual to find any of
the FIE components offered individually, it is
unusual to find the interfacing of all compe
nents within one program. Many communi-
ties and school districts already have parenting
programs, adult basic education, extended
school day services, and classroom volunteers.
A key to family literacy is the combination of
all these separate components into one pm
gram with the added component of p u p d
family time during which the family works
with the program staff. One family was com-
prised of a single mother and her three young
children. Through the multi-faceted design
of the FIE program, the mother received her
GED, entered a junior college on financial aid,
SW Fatndy hkrao’ p 23
showing the time of day when the medicine
should be taken and how much should be
taken. Calculatethe total number of doses
over a period of days. Calculate the total num-
ber of pills to be taken over a period of time.
Geometry Awareness
Ask learners to prepare personal defini-
tions for triangle, rectangle, square, parallel,
cube, circle, vortex, plane, line, and other
common geometric terms. Prepare a list of
real-life examplesfor each of these terms.
Demonstrate that pi is the circumference
divided by the diameter using jar lids and
strips of plain paper. Assemble several lids of
Merent sizes from glass jars. Cut plain white
paper into one-inch wide lengths. Use the
paper strips to measure the distance around
the edge of the lids. Write “circumference”on
that portion of the paper. Compare this mea-
surement to the distance a c m the center of
the lid. The ratio will always be just a little
more than 3, or pi. Use this hands-on activity
as an introduction to the formulas using pi,
and for related terms, including circumfer-
ence, diameter, and radius.
Composing a Family Cookbook
Write the recipes for favorite dishes from mem-
ory or use cookbooks to search for recipes for
favorite foods. Double or triple the ingredients
to increase the number of servings. Reduce
ingredient quantities to decrease the number
M y h & .kim@m,
mnhnuetlfmm p. 10
situation will likely open a number of oppor-
tunities for major changes in how we carry
out adult literacy programs. In my view, the
next decade will see improved delivery systems
in the home (via technology),at work, and
through social service agencies;e n h a n d
instructionalsystems that make use of
advanced technologies (including speech)
for much more specific skill needs than are
taught today; improved and simplifiedlearner
assessment and program evaluation tech-
niques; and an expansion of well-trainedprcr
fessionalstaff for instruction. This is a short
list; much more can and will be added. what
is not in question is whether major changes
will take place.
While an old endeavor,adult literacy is a
new scientificterritory. Compared to reading
in school-agd children, the research litera-
ture on adult literacy acquisition is only just
beginning. There are many more topics that
could have been listed above, and for which
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of servings.Use hands-on activities to compare
one-half, one-fourth, three-fourths using
measuring cups and sand, sugar, or water.
Compare the quantities measured with various
sizes of measuring spoons.
Measuring a Room
Ask learners to work with a partner to measure
the length and width of the room using rulers,
yard sticks, or carpenter’smeasuring tapes.
Use graph paper to establish a scale and dia-
gram the room.Locate the windows and doors
in appropriate locations on the diagram.
h a t e the furniture in the room on the dia-
gram. Calculate the square feet of floor space.
Measure the height of the ceiling and calcu-
late the cubic feet. h u m e that each person
must have three square feet of floor space and
calculate the mm capacity. Use the graph
paper to draw other room shapes that would
have the same number of square feet. Measure
the hallway and other rooms in the buildmg.
Add these measurements to the diagram.
Estimalhg
Ask each learner to guess the number of sew-
ings in a gallon of rmlk. Then use an empty
milk carton, fill it with water, and measure the
actual number of servings.Guess the number
of bricks or concrete blocks used in one wall
of the mm.Then count the actual number
of bricks in a three-square-foot section and
calculate the number of bricks in the whole
we have still relatively scant information. But
expanded efforts are underway to build an
effective knowledge base, and major projects
will m n give the field a much better idea of
how to solve some of the major problems in
the field. (In 1993 reports will be published on
the federally funded National Adult Literacj
Survey, the National Evaluation of Adult Edu-
cation Programs and reportsfrom NCAL.) But
it must be emphasized that attention to myths
and misconceptionsshould not imply a nega-
tive perspective on current adult literacy work
in the U.S.-uite the opposite is the case.
Discussion and analysis of the h i t s of our
knowledge are crucial in order to continue to
improve the quality and effectiveness of adult
literacy programs. As in K-12 schooling, the
field of adult literacy h h r s many divene
and conflicting beliefs. Exploration of the
basis for such beliefs is one of the m a t impor-
tant avenues for improving adult literacy in
America A
wall. Estimate the number of books in a book-
case by measuring the length of shelf space
and then counting the number of books in
one foot.
Many of the principles of holistic instruc-
tion in reading have direct application to the
teaching of mathematics. Activities based on
real-life applicationsof mathematics provide
opportunitiesto develop problem solving abili-
ties and practice computation skills in a
meaningful framework. Hands-on activities
provide concrete demonstrations of mathe-
matical concepts. The emphasis on concrete
activities and real-life applicationscan reduce
math anxiety and help adults become more
aware of the presence of mathematics in their
everyday lives. A
FamilyWag,umlinuedj%mp.16
and devised a family “homeworktime”
during which she and her children completed
school work at the kitchen table.
Another interesting aspect developed with
the screening of children with the Denver
Developmentalinstrument and the group dis-
cussions in the parent group meetings. Both
of these program components quickly created
a need for a strong referral system for both
the children and their parents. Children were
r e f e d for vision, hearing, and learning
problems. Adults were r e f e d to professional
agencies for physical, emotional, social, finan-
cial, and learning problems. Issues such as
incest, rape, child abuse,and handicaps of
various types we^ identified. Any replication
of the FIE program should include trained
counselors or social workers on staff as well
as an established referral system within the
COrMlUnity.
One serious limitation of the Bryan FIE
program was the inability of program cood-
nators to establish on-site child care. It is
suggested that replication of the Family in
Education design include a solid on-site child
care component. Both parental comments
and staff observationsduring the two years of
the FIE project suggest that on-site cMd care
would allow for more quality family time,
more continuity and attendance at parenting
sessions and adult literacy classes, and even a
supervised “hands-on parenting’ component
in the child care center.
Has FIE been successful?Yes, according to
the participating families,for as one parent
said, “this program has helped me and my
children find each other.” A
Septernber/October 1993 23