Parent Participation in Family Programs: Involvement in Literacy Interactions, Adult and Child Instruction, and Assessment

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to describe optimal parent participation in family literacy programs and parent-child literacy interactions, most specifically during interactive reading. Family literacy can be interpreted in many ways, resulting in diverse models of implementation that take place in Head Start programs, community agencies, schools and other venues. Since early literacy starts in the home environment where parents, across cultural, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds, want their children to learn successfully, family literacy programs that enhance parent-child interactions can directly assist many parents in supporting their children to become proficient readers. Implementation and outcomes of program activities on children’s early literacy development, and how these activities interact with existing family literacy practices need to be determined through reliable and valid methods. Consequently, this article addresses variables within two inter-related family literacy components — parent participation in family literacy programs and parent-child interactive literacy activities (ILA), specifically interactive reading —and ways to assess these variables, providing data that program staff can use to inform improvements. This article focuses on the quality of classroom practices that will result in parents’ development of knowledge and enactment of related skills to support their children’s language and emergent literacy skills.