Introduction: Family LiteracyAuthor(s): Lesley Mandel Morrow and Susan B. NeumanSource: The Reading Teacher, Vol. 48, No. 7, Family Literacy (Apr., 1995), pp. 550-551Published by: Wiley on behalf of the International Reading AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20201495 .

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Guest Editors:

Lesley Mandel Morrow

Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA

Susan B. Neuman

Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Introduction: Family

literacy In 1991, the Board of Directors of the

International Reading Association formed

a Family Literacy Commission to study is

sues and initiatives in family literacy from a

broad perspective.

Early approaches to family literacy cen

tered on parents as partners in helping their

children read. That perspective is important, but with changes in the demographics of schools and communities, family literacy needs to be approached in a comprehensive

perspective. This perspective provides settings which enable adult learners to enhance their

own literacy skills, and at the same time pro mote the literacy of their children.

The IRA Family Literacy Commission has assumed the following goals: (1) to describe initiatives in schools and community agencies,

(2) to heighten awareness about the signifi cance of the family's role in children's literacy

development, and (3) to stimulate new activity in family literacy initiatives. This themed issue

of The Reading Teacher should help with these goals.

Research supports the belief that there is

a strong link between the home environment

and children's acquisition of school-based lit

eracy. However the types and forms of literacy

practiced in some homes are often incongruent with those that children encounter in school.

Despite the fact that literacy activity is pre sent in one form or another in most homes,

particular events that some parents share with

their children may have little influence on

school success. Conversely, the kinds of liter

acy practiced in classrooms may have little

meaning for some children outside of school.

The nature of such conflicts can make it

550 The Reading Teacher Vol. 48, No. 7 April 1995

difficult for some parents to integrate school

based literacy into their children's lives. It has

been suggested that there is a correlation be

tween poverty and illiteracy. However, it is

important to review the literature thoroughly, because there is evidence that many low

income, minority, and immigrant families cul

tivate rich contexts for literacy development and that they support family literacy with ef

fort and imagination. Consequently it is essen

tial that we begin to acknowledge "multiple literacies," found in the social practices that

are in culturally diverse families.

Broadly defined, we know that family lit

eracy encompasses ways parents and children

use literacy at home and in their community. Initiatives outside the home include parent in

volvement programs, where parents learn to

assist their children in literacy activities, inter

generational programs, where parents and

children are involved in literacy development as colearners, and studies that investigate the

uses of literacy in families from different cul

tural backgrounds, to help us learn to design

culturally sensitive programs. This issue of The Reading Teacher has

seven articles and one piece for the Teaching

Reading department. These articles present different perspectives. The first article, by

Cynthia Unwin, describes how an adult's de

veloping literacy skills influence those around

her and her day-to-day living. The next piece,

by Patricia Edwards, describes a school-based

program where low-income mothers and fa

thers learn to share books with their young children. The third article, by Barbara Come

and Anthony Fredericks, describes another

school-based program with at-risk children in

?1995 International Reading Association

(pp. 550-551)

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3 which parents are taught many strategies that

they will enjoy, to work with their children to increase reading achievement, attitudes about

reading, parental involvement in school, and

the quality time families spend together. In the next piece, Victoria Purcell-Gates,

Susan L'Allier, and Dorothy Smith report on

the literacy events that were observed in low

literacy and high-literacy families from similar socioeconomic backgrounds. The activities

were very different for children from these dif

ferent types of homes. Susan Akroyd presents a parent reading-writing class in which she

connects cultures through writing. She found

that the experience had a strong impact on the

families as they explored avenues for writing

among family members. Timothy Shanahan,

Margaret Mulhern, and Flora Rodriguez Brown describe a family literacy program that offers simultaneous and connected education

for Latino adults and children.

Loraine Hoffman's article describes how

portfolio assessment may be used to examine

adults' and children's progress in literacy. This

approach encourages parents, children, and

teachers to participate actively in the assess

ment process. Finally, in the Teaching Reading

department we include an annotated bibliogra

phy by Isabel Schon of books for families to read together. The books are multicultural,

with particular interest for Latino families.

We wish to thank our editorial advisory board for their help in reviewing the 56 manu

scripts received. Without their assistance, we

could not have completed this ambitious task.

This Family Literacy issue of The Reading Teacher was proposed to the IRA Publications

Committee by the Family Literacy Commis sion and has been made possible as a result of

the commission's initiative.

Editorial advisory board for family literacy themed issue of The Reading Teacher 1995

JoBeth Allen, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA June Atkins, Office of Public Instruction, Helena, Montana, USA

Kathryn Au, Kamehameha Schools, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA Linda Baker, University of Maryland at Baltimore, Maryland, USA James Christie, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA

Karin Dahl, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA Marie C. DiBiasio, East Greenwich, Rhode Island, USA David Dickinson, Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA Patricia Edwards, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA Anne McGill-Franzen, State University of New York at Albany, Albany, New York, USA

Georgia Garcia, University of Illinois, Champaign, Illinois, USA

Bobbye Goldstein, author and educational consultant, New York, New York, USA Doris Gunderson, Barbara Bush Foundation, Washington, DC, USA Ruth Handel, Montclair State College, Upper Montclair, New Jersey, USA Violet Harris, University of Illinois, Champaign, Illinois, USA

Penelope Lattimer, New Brunswick Public Schools, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA Miriam Martinez, University of Texas at San Antonio, Texas, USA Lea McGee, Boston College, Boston, Massachusetts, USA Ofelia Miranmontes, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA John Daniel O'Leary, Frontier College, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Jorie Phillippi, Performance Plus Learning Consultants, Inc., Charleston, West Virginia, USA

Maria de la Luz Reyes, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA Dixie Shafer, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA

Jody Scoblionko, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA

Lyndon W. Searfoss, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA Janice Stewart, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA

Diane Tracey, Kean College, Union, New Jersey, USA Barbara Walker, Eastern Montana College, Billings, Montana, USA

Introduction: Family literacy 551

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