Reading and writing -- especially family literacy -- colleagues,
You might be interested in this short Open Door Collective article, Intergenerational Literacy, written by researcher John Comings, former director of the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy at Harvard, and me. Although it is designed to help advocates for adult and intergenerational literacy, it has three sections that might be of interest to parents, including those who are also adult learners, and intergenerational literacy practitions: Parental Role in Helping Children Learn to Read, What Parents Should Do (to help their young children get ready to read, at various ages), and Examples (of intergenerational interventions that have some evidence of impact.)
We would be interested to have your reactions, including how you might use this paper to advocate for intergenerational literacy and adult basic skills.
David J. Rosen
djrosen123@gmail.com
Comments
David, I often hear people express their resentment at having funds sent into Adult Education when "our children are the ones who will lead the future. We need more funds in K-12!" I can't argue with the need for more funds across the board in education. Unfortunately, research emphasizing the importance of teaching adults, especially parents, to read is often ignored, in the same way that research showing the effect of literacy on recidivism is ignored in corrections. People just don't get the critical connection. I'll suggest that if you and John Comings agree, programs should make posters with the "shoulds" listed in the article and post them in classrooms and waiting rooms. Leecy
Hi Leecy,
In response to the Open Door Collective's Intergenerational Literacy paper, I received an email from the Executive Director of Literacy Partners of New York City. His program has been working with parents of children in Head Start programs, and they have comparative data on children's outcomes that strongly suggest that the children of parents who are enrolled in their adult literacy program do much better than those whose parents do not. This is not surprising given other research on the outcomes from children whose mothers have completed more years of schooling. Those who argue that if adult literacy is funded adequately it would compromise K-12 education may be shortsighted and uninformed.
Posters with the "shoulds" from the Intergenerational Literacy paper might be a good idea, but those who would like to make them (and cite the paper, please) might consider a comment that one adult education colleague suggested recently in an email to me, that we could have used more gentle language, perhaps "could" instead of "should".
David J. Rosen
djrosen123@gmail.com
I have always like "could," instead of "should." In fact, we "could" use "might want to use," instead of "should!" :) Leecy