Family Literacy

Facts

Legislators or their aides may be new to family literacy and parental involvement issues. Use these facts to guide them; supplement national facts with local and state data.

For Example:
The following facts are from the 2009 NCL Major Issues on Even Start Appropriations Fact Sheet and from the 2008 CSPR Data Summary Presentation listed in the Fact Sheet section below.

What is Even Start?

• The Even Start program provides education and related services jointly to disadvantaged parents and their young children. The program integrates early childhood education, adult basic education, and language and literacy focused parent education into a unified family literacy program. (NCL Major Issues Paper, 2009)

Who are Even Start participants?

• 23,763 Even Start families
• 24,711 adults (53% are English Language Learners)
• 34,133 children
• 58,844 total number of Even Start participants (SEA Coordinators Meeting, 2008)

What is the Need?

• 91% of participants are at or below the Federal poverty level
• 90% of participants are without high school diploma and/or GED
• 55% of adults have not gone beyond 9th grade
• 53% of the parents served in Even Start programs are English language learners.

 
Why Does Even Start Matter?

• Children’s literacy levels are strongly linked to their parents’ educational levels, especially their mothers.
• Many parents do not have the academic skills to nurture and support their child with schoolwork.
• Even Start serves the most vulnerable families in our nation.

What Is the Issue?
Because of a widely cited evaluation of Even Start programs that has been used as a basis for policy decisions:

• Funding for Even Start has decreased 60%
• Number of local grantees has declined by 38%
• Number of Even Start participants has declined by 48%

However, this evaluation has design flaws calling into question the accuracy of its findings.

What Should Congress Do?

• Increase Even Start appropriation to $150 million in FY 2010.
• Support the National Coalition for Literacy’s recommendations for reauthorizing the William F. Goodling Even Start Family Literacy Program.

Fact Sheets

2008 CSPR Data Summary Presentation (ppt)
The CSPR Data Summary Presentation from the 2008 SEA Coordinator Meeting outlines data and results from Even Start programs for 2006-2007. While there are limitations on the extent to which data can be analyzed, this presentation offers some facts advocates may find useful when advocating for Even Start.

Even Start’s Impact on Families
Federal funding for the Even Start family literacy program dropped nearly 75 percent from 2002–2008. This policy brief from the Goodling Institute presents the impact of Even Start on families. Advocates should find these facts useful in advocating to save Even Start and to increase funding for it.

Sample Fact Sheet - Michigan Adult Education - "No Family Left Behind"
From Michigan, this template is a tool advocates can use to demonstrate how adult literacy impacts children’s education.

The Face of Even Start
The Face of Even Start is a fact sheet from the Goodling Institute. It presents information on parents in Even Start who struggle to educate themselves and their children.

The Third National Even Start Evaluation: Data that Distort Reality –
Data that Distort Reality critiques and evaluates the 2003 Third National Even Start Evaluation, conducted by Abt Associates. The report was commissioned on behalf of the U.S. Department of Education and determined that the Even Start program did not have positive effects on the outcomes of children and parents. According to the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the Abt report has been widely cited and has led to the misconception that Even Start is ineffective. Many organizations, including the NCLR, the International Reading Association, the Goodling Institute, the National Center for Family Literacy, and the National Even Start Association, have questioned the report’s validity due to serious design flaws. This three page document may be useful to legislative aides who want to know more about whether the evaluation captured the impact of Even Start.

William F. Goodling Even Start Reauthorization Recommendations
The National Council of La Raza (NCLR), along with several other national organizations, outlines their priorities and recommendations for the reauthorization of the William F. Goodling Even Start Family Literacy Program. These are recommendations for improving the program to better serve our nation’s most vulnerable families. This three page document may be useful to legislative aides seeking more information on why the National Even Start Evaluation findings are questionable and recommendations from practitioners and experts from the field.

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