The Family Learning Project
Children, Families, and Literacy
- A child who comes from a non-reading family is eight times more likely to drop out of school without graduating.
- The most significant factor influencing a child's achievement in first and second grade is whether the child has been read to at home before beginning school and whether he has seen his parents reading.
- Parents want to help their children succeed in school. Up to 25 percent of families just don't know how.
Family literacy is a family education model that collectively addresses the needs of parents and children.
Family literacy builds on the parents' desire to see the quality of life of their children improve. The family is a child's first source of information and the primary model for how a child learns. The more children know about the nature and purposes of reading before kindergarten, the more teachers have to build on in their reading instruction. Unfortunately, far too many parents lack the skills needed to help their children succeed in school.
Family literacy improves the skills and educational level of parents and children while promoting enthusiasm for learning in the home.
