Name of the Project

Washington State Family Literacy Initiative

Grantee Contact

Debra Williams Appleton

Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction

P.O. Box 47200

Olympia WA 98504-7200

Tel: 360-586-2263

Fax: 360-664-3575

E-mail: appleton@ospi.wednet.edu

Even Start Statewide Family Literacy Coordinator

Debra Williams Appleton, Project Manager

Even Start Statewide Family Literacy Initiative Project Goals

• To improve the quality of existing family literacy programs and services through development of outcomes and indicators for adults, children, families, and program quality across all four components, and through a Statewide system development to support a continuous program improvement model.
• To expand family literacy services for highest need children and families by:
• Increasing the number of families served in existing programs
• Building the capacity of communities to implement new family literacy programs
• Increasing awareness within school districts of the family literacy model as an effective strategy in serving children

Project Description

The Statewide Family Literacy Consortium was formed in __________. To achieve the above stated goals, the consortium's plan includes the following activities:

• Identify and aggregate existing information about outcomes for adult literacy and self-sufficiency, early childhood care and education, parent education, and parent-child activities among its member organizations, from local programs within the State, from other States, and from national sources.
• Expand family literacy services by:
• Building the capacity of existing programs to target highest need populations.
• Assisting new prospective programs to develop and implement family literacy services that target low performing and highest need communities and schools.
• Increasing awareness of family literacy models as effective strategies in serving highest need children and families in the nearly 300 school districts within the State and in local communities.

Priorities Addressed

• Using research on reading and literacy in program planning
• Implementing a professional development plan for staff
• Increasing the intensity of family literacy activities for school-age children (up to 7 years old)
• Improving local evaluation methods and practices
• Absolute Priority: Family Literacy Performance Indicators