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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