A r c h i v e d I n f o r m a t i o n
Federal Work-Study and Family Literacy
Family Literacy programs provide opportunities for Federal work-study students to provide tutoring services to children from infancy through elementary age children and to their parents and caregivers. Special consideration is taken to prepare adults to read with their own children. To qualify, the family literacy program must provide one or more of the following four components.
- Literacy or pre-literacy education for children;
- Literacy training for parents or caregivers of children in the program;
- Equipping parents or caregivers with the skills needed to partner with their children in learning;
- Literacy activities between parents or caregivers and their children.
Research indicates that children whose parents work with them on literacy skills during their early childhood years have a significantly better chance for reading well and independently later in life. Not all parents or caregivers have the skills necessary to work with their children to ensure that their children have the proper foundation for reading skills. America Reads tutors, through the Family Literacy Program, can provide parents and caregivers the attention and support they need to become independent readers. FWS students working in family literacy programs are not restricted to tutoring activities. Family literacy services may include administrative tasks, working as an instructional aide or preparing family literacy materials.
- For additional information on family literacy visit the National Center for Family Literacy web site: www.famlit.org
The America Reads Challenge
U.S. Department of Education
400 Maryland Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20202-0107
1-800-USA-LEARN
americareads@ed.gov
