Family literacy programs help parents improve both their parenting and literacy skills while providing young children with early childhood education. The parenting component often includes in-home visits and enrichment activities. Learn more in this overview of the components of family literacy programs.

The best family literacy programs share certain curricular components, but are tailored to meet the needs of the diverse families they serve. This digest describes how Even Start has led to the development of many different family literacy programs.

For parents to be comfortable interacting with schools, they must often bridge language and culture differences. Here are recommendations for getting involved that open the lines of communication.

Many children are raised with a home language different from the language at school, and this has given rise to many misconceptions about language learning. This will help parents learn the facts, and get information about helping their second language learner.

Knowing that students with certain family backgrounds and experiences are more likely to have trouble learning to read means that efforts can be made with these children to prevent difficulties from developing. For example, children with a family history of difficulties or with little exposure to books are at increased risk.

Families differ enormously in the level to which they provide a supportive environment for a child's literacy development.

When schools are community learning centers, their doors don't lock at 3:00 p.m. Learn facts about the importance of and need for extended day and summer programs in schools.

Statistics show that family support for reading – including reading aloud to children – has a major impact on reading success. However, research has uncovered a variety of reasons why many families aren't as involved as they could be.