Abstract
Statement of Problem Literacy research indicates that there is a need and benefit for parental involvement at home as a way to enhance a child’s academic achievement. Schools and teachers play an important role in promoting literacy, but the family is essential in preparing children for the literacy tasks they will encounter at school. Research suggests a strong correlation between a child’s home experiences and literacy achievement in school. Research also states that parents want to help their child, but lack the knowledge of how to help. As schools became aware of the academic differences between students with strong home support and those students without, schools are more likely to promote family literacy programs. This project explores how schools can support parents in family literacy and promote the academic achievement of students. The author designed literacy-based workshops for parents of struggling first grade students. Each workshop covered a specific literacy skill that first graders are taught and assessed on. Sources of Data Pre- and post-survey data was collected. The survey questions for the parents were designed to inform the author on the literacy practices parents implemented at home and the frequency in which those practices were occurring. Parents responded to open-ended questions on the post-survey to provide the author with specifics on the knowledge parents acquired through workshop attendance. Responses to these questions allowed the author to discern if parents gained what they hoped by attending the workshops. In addition, a sample of students whose parents participated in the workshops was interviewed. Conclusions Reached After the completion of the three workshops, it was shown that participants gained knowledge about literacy skills to use at home with their child and were motivated to incorporate the learned reading strategies and literacy-based games into their nightly reading routines with their child. The information gained from the workshops and this project will be useful in the planning of future family literacy workshops.