Creating a Literate Nation by Leveraging the Power of the Family
Recent Blog Posts
One of NCFL's valued partners, Better World Books, has gone on tour with Lilith Fair this summer to help promote literacy. Better World Books is one of four enterprises chosen by the Lilith i4c Campaign. NCFL's own Emily Kirkpatrick met up with B
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New PSA campaign encourages high school dropouts to pursue their GED
New directory to put parents on path to success
Applications being accepted for $30,000 in library grants
WhatGives365 Gives to NCFL
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Free Resources
Life Literacies
Literacy in an Ideal Community
Literacy in an Ideal Community
Planning for Volunteers in Literacy: A Guidebook (download the book in its entirety)
NCFL and several contributing authors from the field created Planning for Volunteers in Literacy: A Guidebook to help programs maximize their volunteer efforts and expand the services they're able to offer to families in need. To download the Guidebook, use the links below.
Use the links below to download individual chapters from Planning for Volunteers in Literacy
Chapter 1: Assessing Program Needs
Chapter 2: Identifying Costs and Benefits
Chapter 3: Involving and Developing Staff
Chapter 4: Defining Volunteer Roles and Responsibilities
Chapter 5: Volunteer Recruitment and Placement
Chapter 6: Training and Development for Volunteers
Chapter 7: Supervision and Management of Volunteers Resources
Planning for Volunteers in Literacy - Chapter 1
Planning for Volunteers in Literacy - Chapter 2
Planning for Volunteers in Literacy - Chapter 3
Planning for Volunteers in Literacy - Chapter 4
Planning for Volunteers in Literacy - Chapter 5
Planning for Volunteers in Literacy - Chapter 6
Planning for Volunteers in Literacy - Chapter 7
Planning for Volunteers in Literacy Resources
Community Challenges and Tools
Community Challenges and Tools
Summer Fun Summer Learning Program
The Summer Fun Summer Learning community enrichment program supports meaningful educational activities during the summer months. The program provides “fun” research based learning experiences for children ages six through thirteen. Parents are invited and encouraged to attend an end-of-the-week event that highlights the activities such as skits, talent shows, spelling bees, and more, in which their child participated.
Enrichment Program Goals:
- To provide enrichment activities that reinforce student learning.
- To engage students in scientifically based reading research learning through fun activities.
- To engage parents in their child’s learning process through the use of skits and other performance activities.
- To bridge the summer learning gap children experience between the end of one school year and the beginning of the next.
Download the curriculum guide and student journal for step-by-step instructional units in the dramatic arts (drama and plays, dance, poetry, dramatic and story reading, and music). Activities are embedded with scientifically based reading research and are provided for a five-week period. Each unit included daily instructional activities blocked in two hour periods. Although the activities are directed at the six through thirteen year-old age group, children somewhat younger and older than this age span will be able to participate in the activities.
The National Center for Family Literacy Community Literacy Initiative was supported by a generous grant from The UPS Foundation.
Curriculum Guide:
Summerfun Faqguide: Complete
Summerfun Faqguide: Dance
Summerfun Faqguide: Dramaplays
Summerfun Faqguide: Dramatic Story Reading
Summerfun Faqguide: Music
Summerfun Faqguide: Poetry
Student Journal:
Health
Technology
Using Computers in Family Literacy Programs
Using Computers in Family Literacy Programs examines how computers and technology can be used throughout family literacy programs to support children's education, adult education, parenting education, and interactive literacy activities for parents and children to do together.
Financial
Financial Fitness: A Guide to Everyday Money
Success with money management begins when there is a solid financial literacy foundation that delves into the many aspects of money and how it impacts everyday living. Whether it’s one dollar or thousands of dollars, management of the dollar has far-reaching and lasting impacts for people of all ages and economic levels.
Download Financial Fitness
Financial Opportunity: Family Progress
The National Center for Family Literacy, through a partnership with the National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE), is pleased to be able to offer the complete Financial Opportunity: Family Progress curriculum, which includes a facilitator guide, adult student workbook, and family play pack with activities for parents and their preschool children.
Developed by NCFL and NEFE, the curriculum offers an easy-to-use framework for teaching families basic concepts about managing money. The adult student workbook is appropriate for adults with a fourth grade reading level. The activity play pack outlines nine fun activities that families can do together.
Financial Lit Student Workbook 1
Financial Lit Student Workbook 2
Financial Lit Student Workbook 3
Financial Literacy Instructions Guide
Financial Literacy Playpack
Early Childhood
NELP Report
The National Early Literacy Panel’s primary goal was to identify interventions, parenting activities, and instructional practices that promote the development of children’s early literacy skills. Download a free copy of the report below.
Cultivating Readers
This parent-friendly magazine, written by the National Center for Family Literacy with funding from Houghton Mifflin, provides effective and easy strategies for promoting reading throughout a child's early years.
Families
Celebrate Literacy Calendar
The calendar provides suggestions for fun activities to do with your children all through the year. Sharing language and literacy experiences with your children will help support their learning and their school success.
Cultivating Readers
This parent-friendly magazine, written by the National Center for Family Literacy with funding from Houghton Mifflin, provides effective and easy strategies for promoting reading throughout a child's early years.
Parent Involvement
Parent Involvement: Key Staff Roles in Elementary Schools
The five staff roles listed in this resource have been identified as crucial to the success of the Toyota Families in Schools model, an intensive family literacy program implemented in 45 Title I schools.
Key Staff Roles in Elementary Schools
Parent Involvement: When Mom and Dad Go to School
Elementary schools nationwide are seeking ways to position parents as solid partners in the education of their children. To meet this need, elementary school family literacy programs are providing a powerful approach to involving parents in their children’s education.
Research
The Effect of Family Literacy Interventions On Children’s Acquisition of Reading
A Meta-Analytic Review conducted by Monique Sénéchal for the National Center for Family Literacy
Family Literacy
A Catalog of Literature is a comprehensive review of the family literacy literature. Download a free copy below.
NELP Report
The National Early Literacy Panel’s primary goal was to identify interventions, parenting activities, and instructional practices that promote the development of children’s early literacy skills. Download a free copy of the report below.
English Language Learners
Celebrate Literacy Calendar
The calendar provides suggestions for fun activities to do with your children all through the year. Sharing language and literacy experiences with your children will help support their learning and their school success.
Cultivating Readers
This parent-friendly magazine, written by the National Center for Family Literacy with funding from Houghton Mifflin, provides effective and easy strategies for promoting reading throughout a child's early years.
Practitioner Toolkit
Talking About Wordless Picture Books
Talking About Wordless Picture Books: A Tutor Strategy Supporting English Language Learners is designed to support tutors who are working with low-intermediate English language learner (ELL) parents in family literacy programs. Developed by NCFL with funding from UPS, the strategy provides detailed instructional activities to help ELL parents build and practice English conversational skills.
K-12
Cultivating Readers
This parent-friendly magazine, written by the National Center for Family Literacy with funding from Houghton Mifflin, provides effective and easy strategies for promoting reading throughout a child's early years.
Financial Opportunities: Family progress
The National Center for Family Literacy, through a partnership with the National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE), is pleased to be able to offer the complete Financial Opportunity: Family Progress curriculum, which includes a facilitator guide, adult student workbook, and family play pack with activities for parents and their preschool children.
Developed by NCFL and NEFE, the curriculum offers an easy-to-use framework for teaching families basic concepts about managing money. The adult student workbook is appropriate for adults with a fourth grade reading level. The activity play pack outlines nine fun activities that families can do together.
All Your Parents
All Your Parents - Part 1: Set the Climate Districts, schools and teachers set the climate for parent involvement. Parents need to know that they are valued members of the school community and that they are equal supporters of their children’s academic success.
All Your Parents - Part 2: Communicate How do schools best support parents’ differing communication styles? How do parents become more comfortable communicating with schools and teachers? How do parents communicate messages to children about the importance of school?
All Your Parents - Part 3: Develop Relationships Without trusting relationships, partnerships often fail. Building relationships is critical for parent-teacher collaboration. In order for parents and teachers to be full partners, rapport and trust must be developed. Relationship building takes time-between parents and teachers, but also between parents and children—particularly if the relationship contains new or changing expectations.
All Your Parents - Part 4: Provide Information and Strategies Many teachers are not prepared to work with parents and need new skills to develop partnerships with families. In the same respect, parents often are not prepared to work with teachers. Additionally, they sometimes struggle with the best ways to work with their children.
All Your Parents - Part 5: Engage in Learning Once teachers and parents have information, they usually feel more confident in their abilities. Professional development for teachers and training for parents should mirror each other and have the same end in mind — children’s academic success.
All Your Parents - Part 6: Develop Leaders and Mentors Both teachers and parents can, and should be, leaders and mentors in a parent involvement partnership. As leadership and mentorship are built within the school or district, sustainability is magnified, schools meet their goals, and children succeed. Parents and teachers feel success as well.
Adult
Applying Research in Reading Instruction for Adults
Applying Research in Reading Instruction for Adults: First Steps for Teachers seeks to build adult literacy instructors’ knowledge of scientifically based reading research and provide basic guidance on how to use it in the classroom.
Reading Strategies
These resources are intended for instructors who work with adult learners. It is designed to present some strategies that you can use with your learners who need to improve their reading comprehension.
Adult Reading StrategiesFoto-novelas
Parents + Schools = Successful Children / Padres + Escuelas = Niños Exitosos are new bilingual products/tools designed to raise awareness of the importance of parental involvement in the education of ELL children.
Materials include:
- Two bilingual foto-novelas for parents titled “Get Involved!” (¡Involúcrate!) and “Reading at Home” (Lectura en el hogar) Foto-Novela 1 (English) Foto-Novela 2 (English) Foto-Novela 1 (Español) Foto-Novela 2 (Español) Foto-Novela Order Form
- A practitioner guide with lesson plans and activities for adult ESL and native language use Practitioner Guide
- Two Web-based flash movies based on the two foto-novelas with audio in English and Spanish
Foto-Novela 1 (English) Foto-Novela 1 (Español) Foto-Novela 2 (English) Foto-Novela 2 (Español)
These family literacy materials are patterned after comic books and graphic novels referred to as foto-novelas that are extremely popular in Spanish-speaking cultures. These innovative materials will be more effective than traditional literacy materials in helping Spanish-speaking families improve their English skills and increase their involvement in their children’s education.
This project is generously funded by the Dollar General Literacy Foundation.
To order a classroom set (including a Practitioner’s Guide and 10 of each foto-novela), please click here to download the order form. 800 copies will be available on a first come, first served basis.