A National media campaign to improve literacy in schools that focuses on parents' basic skills?

Submitted by David Rosen on Sun, 09/09/2018 - 08:05
  • 799 Views
  • 2 Comments
Hello Colleagues,

Yesterday, September 8th, was International Literacy Day.  In recognition of the importance of International and U.S. literacy, I invite you to consider this September 8th South Carolina Post and Courier article, “South Carolina spent $214 million on child literacy. It didn’t work” about a failed elementary school literacy intervention that was not based on evidence-based practices, and a letter by an adult literacy practitioner, “Shining a light on literacy” that appeared a day earlier in the same publication, that describes the underpinning need to address family poverty, and a different strategy that begins with parents’ literacy and basic skills education. This strategy is supported by evidence that the number of years of education the parent, particularly the mother, completes affects how well the child will do in school.

Is it time to focus our attention on a national media campaign that reaches every school district, community, and state legislator about the power of parents' basic skills education, not only to address the important issue of poverty in many U.S. communities, but also to improve the success of children in schools? Perhaps that would be a good goal to set now and to fully reach by September 8th 2020.

David J. Rosen

djrosen123@gmail.com

Comments

Posted by request from Tom Sticht, International Consultant in Adult Education (Ret.)

Colleagues: I am pleased to see David Rosen’s call for a national campaign to advocate for adult education for parents. For almost 25 years I have posted many messages on the Lincs and other adult education discussion lists about investing in the education of adults to improve the educability of their children. A recent report on maternal education and mandatory grade retention (LiCalsi, Ozek & Figlio, 2017) showing the relationships of mother’s education to children’s educational achievement is a welcome addition to the fairly large body of research showing these relationships (see Sticht & McDonald, 1990 for a review of international data on this relationship).

An important part of the research that is not covered in the recent research and most other research showing relationships of parent’s education level to their children’s educational achievement is evidence that if adult literacy educators teach adults to read better, that trends toward helping their children achieve better, without any intervention with their children as happens in pre-school programs or two-generation, family literacy programs.

It is critical for adult education that we are able to show that investing in the education of adults, without intervening directly with their children, nonetheless has positive outcomes for both the adults and their children, including improved economical outcomes, e.g. adults earn more and so their children are raised out of living in poverty or adult’s education improves and as a result so does their children’s literacy and academic achievement improve. 

The two-generation approach to family literacy, in which the lives of both parents and children are intervened confounds the education of the adults and children and so does not directly address the data as illustrated by the studies showing relationships of parent’s education to their children’s educational achievement.

I think we need to have a great deal more research showing how investing in the education of adults can have positive effects on their children on a variety of important outcomes, economic, health, education, incarceration, etc. Some resources available online are given below showing how intervening only with adults affected their children followed by two journal articles arguing for policies in support of adult literacy education for parents as a means of improving the educability of their children

References:

  • LiCalsi, C., Ozek, U., & Figlio, D. (2017, October 17). The Uneven Implementation of Universal School Policies: Maternal Education and Florida's Mandatory Grade Retention Policy. :Posted online at: https://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/edfp_a_00252
  • Resources showing effects of educating adults on their children’s education:
  • Sticht, T. (2004, June). Paradigms of Learning: The Total Literacy Campaign in India. Adults Learning, 15, 28-29.
  • Sticht, T. (1994). Workplace Literacy Programs for Ten Manufacturing Companies In The Chicago, Illinois Area: A Report of Process and Outcomes. In:  Mrowicki, L., et al, (1994). Workplace Literacy in a Total Quality Management Environment for the Manufacturing Industry in Chicago and Northern Illinois. Final Performance Report. Office of Vocational and Adult Education (ED), Washington, DC. (Available online with Google search).
  • Van Fossen, S. and Sticht, T. (1991, July). Teach the mother and reach the child: results of the intergenerational literacy action research project of Wider Opportunities for Women. Washington, DC: Wider Opportunities for Women. (not available online)
  • Sticht, T. & McDonald, B. (1990). Teach the Mother and Reach the Child: Literacy Across Generations. UNESCO: International Bureau of Education, Geneva.
  • Resources calling for policies in support of adult literacy education for parents as a means of improving the educability of their children:
  • Sticht, T. (2011, Fall). Getting It Right from the Start: The Case for Early Parenthood Education American Educator, p35-39. (Available online at:  https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ943722
  • Sticht, T. (2010, Fall). Educated Parents, Educated Children: Toward a Multiple Life Cycles Education Policy. Education Canada, Vol. 50. (Available online at: https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ918849

tgsticht@gmail.com

David and Tom, you address the need to recognize how much the education of parents affects the success of their children in later life. No doubt.    Our LINCS Collection provides wonderful initial evidence that participating in an ABS program also impacts subsequent earnings in the brief, 'The Impact of ABS Program Participation on Long-Term Economic Outcomes," by Stephen Reder, PhD., produced under U.S. Department of Education Contract No. ED-VAE-11-O-0018 with NOVA Research Company, December 2014. Following are a few pieced-together information from that brief:
National and international studies such as the recent Survey of Adult Skills [from PIAAC] provide strong evidence of the need for and economic value of adult basic skills (ABS). A growing body of research indicates that there is strong economic return on basic skills at given levels of education...There is little rigorous research, however, showing that participation in basic skills programs directly impacts the skill levels, educational attainment, or social and economic wellbeing of adults with low levels of education...The Longitudinal Study of Adult Learning (LSAL) is one such lifelong and life-wide study...This Research Brief addresses the following research questions: What is the impact of participating in an ABS program on subsequent earnings? What is the time course of that impact? To what extent does GED attainment mediate the impact of participation on earnings?...The results of this research are clear. Three different methods—treatment effects, difference-in-differences, and fixed effects panel regressions—all show statistically significant and financially substantial impacts of ABS program participation on earnings growth.
Presumably, knowing that successful participation in ABS (ABE) programs impacts earnings among adult learners and the success of children later in life, probably does not affect instructional practices. Or does it? It is clear that such knowledge would be useful in gaining funding for Adult Education. Would it also be helpful to have students in ABS programs discuss what research tells us. I wonder what they would say? Do they come to us in order to help their kids succeed? Would having hard evidence to show the family and economical benefits of participating in ABS programs increase their interest in succeeding? Would we have more people joining us if students talked about research in their families and communities? Should we start compiling the evidence and sharing it regularly with our adult learners?   One more question: What do you think? Leecy