Involving families in tutoring programs
Abstract
Chapter Four from the book On the Road to Reading discusses effective practices to involve families with tutoring programs by incorporating family involvement in program design, establishing relationships between tutor and family, and promoting family literacy.
Issue
Tutoring programs that focus on reading strive to create supportive and literacy-rich environments for children. Yet, staff and service participants find that they need the support and assistance of family members to keep a child reading after the tutoring session ends and to build on each small success.
Action
In creating a bond that is centered on reading and encouraging the family's active participation in program activities be sensitive to the child's home environment and the family's strengths or needs. Some effective practices for including families are:
- Enroll families as well as their children in the tutoring program.
- Provide a communication journal or audiotape for each family.
- Give families progress reports at regularly scheduled intervals.
- Make sure every home has children's books and writing materials.
- Encourage families to learn about learning. Tip sheets for families are available in Chapter Four of On the Road to Reading.
- Encourage families to read aloud with their children.
- Demonstrate respect for the family's home language and culture.
- Use familiar words rather than educational jargon.
- Establish a system for ongoing exchange of information about the child's progress.
- Design follow-up assignments that encourage children to involve their families in reading.
- Acknowledge parents' abilities and suggest ways to apply them to support children's learning.
- Ask families to help keep track of their child's progress.
- Coordinate with family literacy programs and initiatives.
- Plan reading-related events — they bring families, children, and tutors together to play and learn.
- Establish a Family Resource Center — it supports parents as lifelong learners and primary educators of their children.
- Hold a book discussion series — it leads adult developing readers to value and enjoy books and reading and to pass these feelings on to their children.
Context
Parents are the first and primary teachers of their children. They teach their children that reading and writing are valuable, useful, and enjoyable activities through simple practices such as reading aloud, having conversations, answering questions, providing books and writing materials, and demonstrating how reading and writing are used in daily life.
In some families, however, the love of reading is not passed down from one generation to the next. Parents with poor reading skills are not likely to encourage their children to explore the world of books and reading. A child who grows up in a home with at least one illiterate parent is at increased risk of growing up illiterate. Family literacy programs address this problem by helping children gain the skills that will allow them to succeed in school while also encouraging parents to set and pursue their own learning goals.
Citation
Koralek, Derry, and Ray Collins. "Involving Families in Tutoring Programs." Chapter Four in, On the Road to Reading: A Guide for Community Partners. Vienna, VA: Collins Management Consulting, Inc. 1997.
Outcome
Experience teaches us that "a child is likely to learn more about reading when the tutor and family form a partnership." A positive outcome of family participation is "increased success for children and validation of the parents' role as primary teachers of their children." Programs are encouraged to "involve family literacy, and include reading in every event sponsored by the tutoring program."
Posted On
February 8, 2002For More Information
Resources
America Reads: Principles and Key Components
http://nationalserviceresources.org/filemanager/download/614/amreadpr.pdf [221 KB]
From The Resource Center library:
On the Road to Reading: A Guide for Community Partners
Item number: R0687
