12
Parents Go Back To School To Help Their Children LORI CONNORS TADROS* 8401 Joseph Sharp Street NE, Albuquerque, NM 87122 (Received 5 October 1996) This report describes the implementation and evaluation of one local Even Start project, using the results of the recently released final report of the National Evaluation of the Even Start Family Literacy Program for comparison. The Even Start Grant program is a potential source of funding to schools and communities to address the literacy needs of families. This study of one Even Start project shows that 18 participants significantly improved their literacy skills, averaging a six point gain on the CASAS functional reading survey. Nine participants are ready to take their GED exam or have received their GED. The children of parents in the project are much more likely to be exposed at home and in the community to literacy-related activities. These include visiting the library with their parent, checking out books with their own library card, and spending more time in literacy related parent-child activities. INTRODUCTION Since the 1960s and the introduction of the National Head Start program, efforts to improve outcomes for children in school have also focused on parents' role in supporting young children's learning (Comer, 1980; Scott-Jones, 1992; Zigler & Styfco, 1993). Many family literacy or intergenerational programs are based on the expectation that parents' newly developing skills will transfer intergenerationally to their children. A large body of literature supports the correlation between parents' education and children's development, and suggests that parents with more education are better able to transfer their knowledge to their children (Hess & Holloway, 1979; Sticht, 1992). In the forward of a recent book on literacy, Bridges to Literacy (1994), Elizabeth Sulzby states, "The term bridgesis significant. It points to the importance of exploring, asserting, and cultivating a positive set of relationships between home and school (in whatever form schooling takes)", (p. x) Family literacy programs work to create these positive relationships by recognizing that the adult literacy needs of parents are critically important for their own self esteem and ability to support their * Correspondence; Fax: (505) 844–4816; Email: [email protected] 167 Early ChildDevelopmentandCan, 1997, Vols. 127-128, pp. 167-178 Reprints available directly from the publisher Photocopying permitted by license only © 1997 OPA (Overseas Publishers Association) Amsterdam B.V. Published in The Netherlands under license by Gordon and Breach Science Publishers Printed in Malaysia

Parents Go Back To School To Help Their Children

  • Upload
    lori

  • View
    214

  • Download
    1

Embed Size (px)

Citation preview

Page 1: Parents Go Back To School To Help Their Children

Parents Go Back To School To HelpTheir Children

LORI CONNORS TADROS*

8401 Joseph Sharp Street NE, Albuquerque, NM 87122

(Received 5 October 1996)

This report describes the implementation and evaluation of one local Even Start project,using the results of the recently released final report of the National Evaluation of theEven Start Family Literacy Program for comparison. The Even Start Grant program isa potential source of funding to schools and communities to address the literacy needsof families. This study of one Even Start project shows that 18 participants significantlyimproved their literacy skills, averaging a six point gain on the CASAS functional readingsurvey. Nine participants are ready to take their GED exam or have received their GED.The children of parents in the project are much more likely to be exposed at home andin the community to literacy-related activities. These include visiting the library with theirparent, checking out books with their own library card, and spending more time in literacyrelated parent-child activities.

INTRODUCTION

Since the 1960s and the introduction of the National Head Start program, effortsto improve outcomes for children in school have also focused on parents' rolein supporting young children's learning (Comer, 1980; Scott-Jones, 1992; Zigler &Styfco, 1993). Many family literacy or intergenerational programs are based on theexpectation that parents' newly developing skills will transfer intergenerationallyto their children. A large body of literature supports the correlation betweenparents' education and children's development, and suggests that parents with moreeducation are better able to transfer their knowledge to their children (Hess &Holloway, 1979; Sticht, 1992).

In the forward of a recent book on literacy, Bridges to Literacy (1994), ElizabethSulzby states, "The term bridgesis significant. It points to the importance of exploring,asserting, and cultivating a positive set of relationships between home and school(in whatever form schooling takes)", (p. x) Family literacy programs work to createthese positive relationships by recognizing that the adult literacy needs of parentsare critically important for their own self esteem and ability to support their

* Correspondence; Fax: (505) 844–4816; Email: [email protected]

167

Early ChildDevelopmentandCan, 1997, Vols. 127-128, pp. 167-178Reprints available directly from the publisherPhotocopying permitted by license only

© 1997 OPA (Overseas Publishers Association)Amsterdam B.V. Published in The Netherlands under

license by Gordon and Breach Science PublishersPrinted in Malaysia

Page 2: Parents Go Back To School To Help Their Children

168 L. CONNORS TADROS

families, that children are dependent on their families for support in meeting theexpectations of schooling and society, and that communities need their citizensto be fully functioning and literate to contribute productively to the vitality ofcommunity life.

The purpose of this paper is to familiarize the reader with the federally fundedEven Start Family Literacy Program, a potential source of funding to schools andcommunities for developing family literacy programs to improve the home literacyenvironments of preschool children. The paper describes the evaluation of onelocal program funded by the Even Start grant program in light of the findings fromthe National Evaluation of the Even Start Family literacy Program. Even Start hasbeen described as a "family literacy laboratory" (St. Pierre, Swartz, Gamse, Murray,Deck & Nickel, 1995, p. 5)." This report should give the reader a brief view of oneexperiment in the laboratory compared to the "average" Even Start project.

THE EVEN START FAMILY LITERACY PROGRAM

Authorized by Congress in 1988, the Even Start program was designed to "...improve the educational opportunities of the Nation's children and adults byintegrating early childhood education and adult education for parents into a unifiedprogram . . ." (P.L. 100-297, Sec. 1051). Of the 20,000 families served nationallyfrom 1989-1992, 79% did not complete high school and 66% had incomes below$10,000 annually. Even Start projects are required to provide three core servicesto participating families: adult education, early childhood education and parentingeducation. The average family participated in the program for seven months andreceived an average of 13.5 hours of adult education, 6.5 hours of parentingeducation, and 26 hours of early childhood education for their children each month.(Since programs nationally vary considerably in the amount of programming offeredin each component, data on the total number of possible hours of participation is notavailable.) Many programs provide home-based services and other support servicesto facilitate participation in Even Start.

Most importandy, Even Start families received services that they may nothave received if the programs were not available. Of Even Start families, 91%participated in adult education versus an estimated 30-40% without the program,95% participated in parenting education versus an estimated 8% without Even Start,and 98% participated in early childhood education versus an estimated 60% in theabsence of Even Start.

The National Evaluation results are very important as this four year studyrepresents the largest and most systematic attempt to describe family literacyprograms and assess program impact with a reasonably large, national sample.

aThe National Evaluation of the Even Start Family Literacy Program collected data from Programs1989 and 1992. Findings are based on data collected by all funded programs for a national data base andsupplemented by in-depth data, including pre-post, comparison/control group testing, collected in 10sites (5 experimental, 5 control) chosen as in-depth study sites.

Page 3: Parents Go Back To School To Help Their Children

PARENTS GO BACK TO SCHOOL TO HELP THEIR CHILDREN 169

Previous research in the field has focused on small, local or regional initiatives whichprovided important first-stage exploratory results but limited the generalizability ofthe findings. Even within the National Evaluation data set much variation in programdesign and population served exists because the Even Start legislation specificallycalls for projects to build on existing community resources and to be responsive tolocal needs.

THE FREDERICK COUNTY EVEN START PROJECT

Frederick County is located one hour west of Baltimore, Maryland and one hournorthwest of Washington, DC. In the past it was best known as the dairy and fanningcenter of Maryland but is now a rapidly growing community of mixed agricultural,industrial and commuter sectors.

Of the total population, approximately 50-60% are between the ages of 25 to60. Although the current dropout rate from Frederick County Public Schools isless than two percent, between 1950 and 1960 it ranged between 50-60%. Censusfigures show that seven percent of the 25 years and older population attained lessthan a ninth grade education and eleven percent left high school without a diploma.Unemployment peaked in 1991 at a rate of 9.5%, a figure based on those receivingunemployment benefits. Between 1989 and 1991 there was a 60% increase (629 vs.1012 families) in families receiving welfare.

Program Description

The Frederick County Even Start Project is operated at two sites, the FamilyPartnership (a collaborative social service agency) and in the community roomof a local housing project. Program services - adult education, early childhoodeducation, and parenting are offered; three days per week at the housing projectsite and three evenings per week at the Family Partnership site. The program isoffered year-round, with a modified summer schedule. Transportation is providedto the evening location; participants walk to the housing project site. Goals ofthe project are: (1) to increase local collaborations in family literacy; (2) topromote adult literacy services to Chapter (now Title) 1 eligible families; (3)to prepare Chapter 1 children for success in school; and (4) to provide parenttraining for parents. Participants are recruited through a variety of methods,including newspaper announcements, contact with local elementary school per-sonnel, referrals from collaborative agencies, word-of-mouth, and presentationsto local community groups. The project is staffed by a part-time director, onefull-time adult education instructor at each site, and two child development/familyliaison staff at each site. Other staff and services are available to participants,depending on need.

The session schedule is fairly flexible. However, each site allows time for parentsto receive adult education instruction, time for child development classes and

Page 4: Parents Go Back To School To Help Their Children

170 L. CONNORS TADROS

joint parent-child time in children's classrooms. At both sites adult education,ABE (adult basic education), GED (Graduate Equivalency Degree) preparation,and ESL (English as a Second Language) instruction are offered, primarilythrough computer-assisted individualized instruction. Parenting education consistsof weekly topic-oriented parenting groups, parent-child interaction activities (i.e.arts and crafts, reading), and individual or small group staff-parent consultations.Periodically, guest speakers present pertinent information to parents on topics suchas nutrition, drug abuse and other topics of interest to participants.

The early childhood component differs at each site due to the time of the daythe programs are offered. At the Family partnership site's evening sessions, childrenrange in age from infants to school-age children. At the day-time housing project site,children range in age from infants to preschool. Families eat their dinners togetherduring the evening session and a snack during the day-time session. The curriculumincludes creative expression (arts and crafts, music), reading, gross motor activitiesand outdoor play, games and homework help; however the content of activitiesreflect the age and needs of children served at each site. At the Family Partnershipsite, older children are encouraged to use age-appropriate software programs in thecomputer lab.

METHOD

Sample

Approximately 29 parents enrolled during the program year. Approximately40% of the participants were white, 50% were African-American and 8% wereHispanic. Approximately three-quarters (73%) were single parents and 72% receivedgovernment assistance. Almost all participants (92%) were not employed at the timeof their participation. Of the 15 adult participants in die Frederick County Even Startfor which we have complete data on their reported highest level of education: 34%dropped out before high school (n=5); 40% dropped out during high school (n=6);and 27% completed high school (n=4).

Data Sources

• Program records of attendance.

• Comprehensive Adult Student Assessment System (CASAS) (Rickard, Stiles, Martois,1989), a test of adult functional literacy is used. Scoring reflects four abilitylevels - basic, beginning, intermediate and high school.

• Parent Involvement in Education Scale (Dolan, 1983), apaper and pencil self-reportmeasure, assesses the home literacy environment and parent's expectations oftheir children. A total score and four factor scores are determined.

• Individual interviews widi participants.

Page 5: Parents Go Back To School To Help Their Children

PARENTS GO BACK TO SCHOOL TO HELP THEIR CHILDREN 171

RESULTS

Amount of Participation

One of the most difficult challenges of delivering a family literacy interventionis sustaining the participation of families for a long enough time period for theprogram to have an effect. Although this was the third year of the project'simplementation in Frederick County, no family had returned from the previous year.This is fairly typical of Even Start projects nationally. Eleven of the 29 participants leftthe Frederick County program before reaching a sufficient level of participation tobe included in the analyses, resulting in a retention rate of 63%. This rate is similar tothat reported in the National Evaluation of the Even Start Family Literacy Programwhere 69% of families participated for 12 or fewer months.

Hours of Adult Education

Approximately 29 parents attended at least one session of the Frederick CountyEven Start project, however just 18 adults participated long enough and consistendyenough to be pre- and post-tested in reading skills. Thirty-three percent (n=7) ofthe sample participated in adult education for less than 72 hours; 29% (n=6) of thesample participated for 74-100 hours; and 38% (n=8) of the sample participated for102 to 210 hours.

Hours of Parenting Education

The number of hours of parenting education that each participant receivedis difficult to calculate because parenting "education" occurred in multipleforms ranging from structured parenting workshops or presentations to informalconsultations or one-to-one personal or phone interactions between staff andparent. Parent-child together activities typically occurred at each session but somewere more formally structured than others, i.e. an arts and crafts activity versus ashared meal time. Parenting education hours have been estimated as one hour persession (out of three hours) of attendance in the program, which includes formalparenting activities, informal parent-staff interactions and parent-child activities. Forthe study sample, participation in parenting education ranged from 24 to 105 hours.Fifty-seven percent (n=12) participated for 49 or fewer hours, 38% (n=8) participatedfor 50 to 100 hours and 5% (n=l) participated for 105 hours.

Hours of Early Childhood Education

The Frederick County Even Start Project allowed parents in adult education totake any of their children to die child development program in order to facilitateparents' participation. However, early childhood services were targeted to age-elgible children (1-7 year olds). The child development program was offered forapproximately diree hours per session (which could include parent-child time).

Page 6: Parents Go Back To School To Help Their Children

172 L. CONNORS TADROS

Unfortunately, adequate attendance records were not kept on which child orchildren from a particular family attended each session. Therefore it could notbe determined how many hours of early childhood education a particular childreceived. We estimated the hours of early childhood services based on the attendanceof the parent. Parents typically took one or more children to the child developmentprogram each time they attended a session. Estimated early childhood participationranged from 72 hours to 315 hours, with 24% (n = 5) participating for 50—100 hours,38% (n = 8) participating for 101-150 hours, 29% (n = 6) participating for 151-200hours and 7% (n = 2) participating for 201-315 hours.

Comparison to the Average Even Start Project

Frederick County was much more successful than the average Even Start project atsustaining participation in adult education beyond 49 hours; 95% of the participantsin Frederick County versus 45% in the National sample. On the other hand,some (10%) Even Start projects in the National Evaluation were able to maintainparticipation in adult education for 300 hours or more, greatly increasing thelikelihood of significant gains on the CASAS and/or achievement of a GED by theparticipant. Frederick County provided 100 hours or less of parenting education toapproximately the same percentage of parents as did the average Even Start project(95% vs. 85%). Frederick County was more effective than the average program inproviding moderate amounts (50-100 hours) of early childhood education and lesseffective in providing very intensive (300-600 hours) early childhood programs tochildren.

Parent Literacy

In Frederick County, parents began the program with mean scores on the CASASof 227 (low high school level) and ended the program with a mean score of 233,representing a significant gain of 6 points.*

Two primary factors are hypothesized to influence the amount of gain onthe CASAS or other measures of adult literacy: amount of instructional time andbeginning functioning level (St. Pierre et al., 1995). The developers of the CASASsuggest that educationally significant gains would not be expected with less than70-100 hours of adult education participation and adults with lower entry levelscores on the CASAS would be expected to make greater gains (St. Pierre et al.,1995). ••";.

, Significantly greater gains were achieved by the parents (n = 7) who participatedin the most hours of adult education (100-210 hours), followed by the parents (n = 6)who participated for 70 to 100 hours in adult education. Although the parents (n = 5)who participated for 50-70 hours in adult education made some gains, they werenot statistically significant. These results support the relationship between hours ofparticipation and amount of gain.

The mean gain scores in Frederick County were significantly higher (6 points, />=<.000) than theresults of the National Evaluation of the Even Start Family Literacy Program for both the control groupand the in-depth study sites (3.6 and 3.7 points respectively, p= < .05).

Page 7: Parents Go Back To School To Help Their Children

PARENTS GO BACK TO SCHOOL TO HELP THEIR CHILDREN 173

Differences in gain scores as a function of beginning literacy level followed thebasic pattern of higher gains associated with lower beginning functional levels. TheFrederick County sample included just one parent that began the program at thebasic literacy level, scoring on the pre-test in the 200-214 range. This individualgained three points on the post-test. (It should be noted that it is highly likely thatthose participants that dropped out before completing 40 hours or the first post-testwere functioning at this basic literacy level.) The greatest gains (eight points) wereachieved by the intermediate level group (scoring between 215-224 on the pre-test,n=4); followed by a gain of more than five points for the high school level group(scoring 225 or more on the pre-test, n=13).

Most participants entering Even Start family literacy projects hope to get theirGraduate Equivalency Diploma (GED). The National Evaluation of the Even StartFamily Literacy Program reports that "Even Start has had a statistically significant,positive effect on GED attainment" (St. Pierre et al, 1995, p. 193). In the FrederickCounty Even Start project 9 (of 18) or 50% of the sample were preparing to takeor had received their GED at the end of the program year. This is an importantaccomplishment for the adults and one that most likely will begin their path forfurther adult education participation (Connors-Tadros, 1995).

Parenting Practices

The Parent Involvement in Education (PIE) scale was administered upon entry andafter each 40 hour increment of participation. Parents (n = 7) participating in theFrederick County Even Start generally had high expectations for their children'sschooling upon entry into the program - 77% wanted their child to be in a collegeprep program in high school, 76% felt their child should attend four years of collegeor trade school or get some graduate school education, and 77% felt that educationwas extremely important or important for their child's success in life. Parents alsoreported that they conducted many literacy related activities with their child — 46%often encouraged their child to read books or magazines not required for school,65% of the children had a dictionary available at home, and 72% read to their childat least one time a week or more. Frederick County Even Start parents were alsoreasonably involved at their children's school —'70% had attended meetings withtheir child's teacher or other school staff at least two to three times a year or moreand 92% had talked with their child's teacher at least one to two times .per monthor more. ' • , .-,, ' .. • «- • . . : :

On the Parent Involvement in Education (PIE) scale mean scores improved on three'factors (parental involvement in school, home environment'and literacy-relatedactivities) and decreased on one factor (parental expectations). The total scoreimproved from pre-to-post testing. The increase on the literacy related parent-childactivities factor was significant, none of the other increases or decreases weresignificant. Two individual items on the PIE showed significant, positive gains: morechildren had their own library cards (/>< .05) and parents reported that they tooktheir child to the library more often {p< .01).

Page 8: Parents Go Back To School To Help Their Children

174 L CONNORS TADROS

Participant Perceptions of the Impact of the Program

It is often difficult to capture the nuances of changes in families' lives as a result ofparticipation in relatively short-term interventions (Connors, 1994; St. Pierre et al,1995). Many participants in Even Start programs have had negative educationalexperiences; therefore, the first step in the process of change is helping familiesfeel comfortable and confident in their choice to enroll in the project and pursuegoals for themselves and their children (National Center for Family Literacy,1995). Individual interviews with adult participants (n=ll) were conducted to assessqualitative changes in attitude towards educational experiences and to hear fromparents direcdy how their participation had impacted their lives.

All of the Frederick County parents interviewed were very positive about theprogram, both for themselves and their children. Most parents identified one staffperson as the "key" to helping them feel comfortable with this new experience andto giving them continuous encouragement to persist in the program. One parentsaid, "The teacher explained what goes on and gave me help when I needed it. Thisis not like school. They never helped me when I needed help".

Many participants particularly liked the individualized computer-based instruc-tion, finding the computers exciting because they had never used them before andbelieving that computer experience would help them in future job searches. Otherparticipants mentioned that they liked that their children were cared for while theywere in class, they liked the location, and they liked that the staff would listen to theirproblems and offer help if possible. Parents reported that their children diought itwas fun to come to "school" and liked the arts and crafts activities and toys to playwith.

All parents thought the program had helped them in many areas. Examples ofwhat parents said when they were asked, "Do you do anything different now thanbefore you started the program?" were:

1. Personal behavior - "Don't drink as much." "I feel better about myself becauseI am doing something good for myself and my kids."

2. Parenting - "I have more patience with my kids." "I learned how to use time-outsand other discipline techniques." "I don't yell at my kids so much."

3. Activities with children - "I learned how to play new games because now I canread the directions." "I picked up a couple of tips on activities to do with mykids." "I read more books to my son."

4. Parent literacy - "I learned a lot of English and how to read." "I read morebooks for me." "I am more sure of myself in math."

The interviews with parents reveal that die Frederick County Even Start programis resulting in small changes in the quality of families' lives. The National Evaluationof the Even Start Family Literacy Program reports that in focus group interviewswith parents as part of the in-depth study, participants described similar short-termpositive impacts of the program (St. Pierre et al., 1995).

Page 9: Parents Go Back To School To Help Their Children

PARENTS GO BACK TO SCHOOL TO HELP THEIR CHILDREN 175

DISCUSSION

The Frederick County Even Start project has significantly improved the literacylevel of 18 residents. Nine residents are now ready to take their GED examor have received their GED. While the numbers are small, these are importantaccomplishments. Connors-Tadros (1995) found that for parents of preschoolchildren, achieving a high school diploma is a "critical marker" for participationin further adult education. A pattern of successful pursuit may be established oncethe first degree/diploma is earned. Once the pattern is begun, and the habits andskill necessary for the role of a student are integrated with other adult roles such asparent or spouse (Pallas, 1993), it is much more likely that an individual will continueto pursue further education or training (Connors-Tadros, 1995).

Previous research has shown a strong correlation between low parental edu-cation levels and less optimal conditions at home to support children's learning(Connors-Tadros, 1995; Hess & Holloway, 1979; Sticht & McDonald, 1990). Whilethe processes underlying this correlation are not clearly known, one of the premisesof the Even Start legislation is that raising adult education levels and providingparenting education will increase the support children receive from their parentsfor learning and school success. Most parents participate in the Even Start projectin order to improve their ability to help their children (National Center forFamily Literacy, 1993). Seventy-one percent (n = 10) of the participants in FrederickCounty Even Start reported that helping their child was a primary reason for theirparticipation.

The children of parents in the Frederick County Even Start project are now muchmore likely to be exposed at home and in the community to literacy related activities- visiting the library with their parent, checking out books with their own librarycard, and spending more time in literacy related parent-child activities. Childrenmay also be experiencing more appropriate discipline techniques and less harshinteractions with their parents. These findings - of modest changes in the homeenvironment — support the results found in previous studies of local family literacyprojects (Connors, 1993,1994; Dolan, 1992).

The Frederick County Even Start project carefully developed an effectivecollaborative network to provide project services and to meet other family needs.Connors-Tadros (1995) reported that "the top five barriers for both minorityand white respondents in a national survey of adult education participationwere: conflicts with family responsibilities, lack of child care, conflict with workschedule, meeting time of classes and cost" (p. 9). In Frederick County collaborativearrangements with Head Start, the Housing Authority, and local service providers,as well as services provided through the grant, effectively reduced these barriersfor many participants. Connors-Tadros (1995) also reported that minority parentsmore often cite transportation and location as significant barriers. Frederick Countyoffered transportation to the more isolated Family partnership site and convenientlylocated the second site in the housing project serving many minority parents whomight be well served by the project.

Page 10: Parents Go Back To School To Help Their Children

176 L. CONNORS TADROS

CONCLUSION

The local evaluation of the Frederick County Even Start project provides a contextfor the findings of the National Evaluation of Even Start Projects. St. Pierre andcolleagues (1995) state: "Even Start is not large enough to make an impact on itsentire target population. However, it has had a broad impact on individual familiesand many local service communities" (p. 254). These statements apply to the impactof the Frederick County project on its participants. A small number of families havemade important gains because of the increased availability of literacy-related servicesfor families in need in Frederick County.

The Even Start legislation and grant program was designed to test a newmodel of service delivery, integrating single-service intervention programs of adulteducation, preschool education and parenting education into a more holistic modelof intervention and prevention. The mandates for service delivery required afundamental shift from a focus on individuals to a focus on the family (Connors1993, 1994). One of the basic research questions of the National Evaluation is:Does the Even Start model work? Findings from the National Evaluation and theFrederick County local evaluation suggest that it does work - at least moderatelywell. While the model takes years to fully implement, most projects including the onein Frederick County offer all three component services and many support services,some home-based services, and develop collaborative arrangements with other localservice providers. Participation in adult education results in the attainment of aGED for many participants; more hours of participation results in greater gains onliteracy measures for adults; and greater gains on tests of vocabulary developmentfor children.

If we reflect on the last two decades of research in the area of family literacywe might conclude that families are important centers of literacy development forchildren (Auerbach, 1995; Chall & Snow, 1982; Delagdo-Gaitan, 1987; Taylor &Dorsey-Gaines, 1988), the literacy needs and skills of children are interwoven withthe literacy needs and skills of their parents (Darling & Hayes, 1989; Duffy, 1992;Hess & Holloway, 1979; Sticht, 1992), and family literacy programs which respond tocommunity needs and participant interests are effective in many ways in improvingthe abilities of parents to pursue further job and educational opportunities andto provide their children with more school readiness and literacy-related activities(Connors, 1993; 1994; Dolan, 1992; Edwards, 1995; Parratore, 1995; St. Pierre et al,1995).

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Center on Families, Communities, Schools andChildren's Learning. The Center is supported by the US Department of EducationOffice of Educational, Research and Improvement (R117Q 00031) in cooperationwith the US Department of Health and Human Services. The opinions expressedare the autfiors' own and do not represent OERI or HHS positions or policies.

Page 11: Parents Go Back To School To Help Their Children

PARENTS GO BACK TO SCHOOL TO HELP THEIR CHILDREN 177

References

Auerbach, E.R. (1995). Which way for family literacy: Intervention or empowerment? In L.M. Morrow(Ed.), Family literacy: Connections in schools and communities (pp. 11-28). New Brunswick, NJ: RutgersUniversity.

Chall, J.S. and Snow, C. (1982). Families and literacy: The contribution of out of school experiences to children'sacquisition of literacy. Washington, DC: National Institute of Education.

Comer, J.P. (1980). School power. New York, NY: Free Press.Connors, L.J. (1993). Project SELF HELP: A family focus on literacy. (Report No. 13). Baltimore, MD: Johns

Hopkins University, Center on Families, Communities, Schools and Children's Learning.Connors, L.J. (1994). Small wins: The promises and challenges of family literacy. (Report No. 22). Baltimore,

MD: Johns Hopkins University, Center on Families, Communities, Schools and Children's Learning.Connors-Tadros, L. (1995). Participation in adult education and its effects on home literacy (Report No. 32).

Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University, Center on Families, Communities, Schools and Children'sLearning.

Darling, S. and Hayes, A.E. (1989). Breaking the cycle of illiteracy: The Kenan family literacy model program. KY:The National Center for Family Literacy.

Delgado-Gaitan, C. (1987). Mexican adult literacy: New directions for immigrants. In S.R. Goldman andK. Treuba (Eds.), Becoming literate in English as a second language (pp. 9-32). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.

Dolan, L. (1983). Prediction of reading achievement and self-esteem from an index of home educationalenvironment. Measurement and Evaluation in Guidance, 16, 86-94.

Dolan, LJ. (1992). Project SELF HELP: A first-year evaluation of a family literacy program (Report No. 8).Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University, Center on Families, Communities, Schools and Children'sLearning.

Duffy, T.M. (1992). What makes a difference in instruction? In T.G. Sticht, M J. Beeler and B.A. McDonald(Eds.), The intergenerational transfer of cognitive skills, volume 1: Programs, policy and research issues (pp.61-83). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.

Edwards, P. (1995). Combining parents' and teachers' thoughts about storybook reading at home andschool. L.M. Morrow (Eds.), Family literacy: Connections in schools and communities (pp. 54-69).New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University.

Hess, R. and Holloway, S. (1979). The intergenerational transmission of literacy. Washington, DC: NationalInstitute of Education.

National Center for Family Literacy (1993). The power of family literacy. KY: Author.National Center for Family Literacy (1995). Family literacy: The journey to success. KY: Author.Pallas, A.M. (1993). Schooling in the course of human lives: The social context of education and the

transition to adulthood in industrial society. Review of Educational Research, 63(4), 409-447.Parratore,J. (1995). Implementing an intergenerational literacy project: Lessons learned. L.M. Morrow

(Ed.), Family literacy: Connections in schools and communities (pp. 37-53). New Brunswick, NJ: RutgersUniversity.

Rickard, P., Stiles, R. and Martois, J. (1989). Psychometric background and measurement issues related to thedevelopment of the CASAS. San Diego, CA: CASAS.

Scott-Jones, D. (1992). Family and community interventions affecting the development of cognitiveskills in children. In T.G. Sticht, MJ. Beeler and B.A. McDonald (Eds.), The intergenerationaltransfer of cognitive skills, Volume 1: Programs, policy and research issues (pp. 84-108). Norwood,NJ: Ablex.

Sticht, T.G. (1992). The intergenerational transfer of cognitive skills. In T.G. Sticht, M.J. Beeler and B.A.McDonald (Eds.), The intergenerational transfer of cognitive skills, Volume 1: Programs, policy and research issues(pp. 1-9). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.

Sticht, T.G. and McDonald, B.A. (1990). Teach the mother and reach the child: Literacy across generations.Washington, DC: Unesco International Bureau.

St. Pierre, R., Swartz, J., Gamse, B., Murray, S., Deck, D. and Nickel, P. (1995). National Evaluation of theEven Start Literacy Program. Washington, DC: US Department of Education.

Page 12: Parents Go Back To School To Help Their Children

178 L CONNORS TADROS

Sulzby, E. (1994). Bridges to literacy: Children, families and schools. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell.Taylor, D. and Dorsey-Gaines, C. (1988). Growing up literate: Learning from inner-city families. Portsmouth,

NH: Heinemann.Zigler, E. and Styfco, S.J. (1993). Using research and theory to justify and inform Head Start expansion

(Vol VII, No. 2). Social Policy Report. Chicago, IL: Society for Research in Child Development.