NCFL provides and develops solutions to the literacy crisis that build on the family to deliver results. By working with public and private partners at the national, state and community level, NCFL is meeting the challenge of improving education for disadvantaged parents and children.

Laboratories for Literacy Advancement

Since 1991, Toyota has helped NCFL develop family literacy services that have touched the lives of more than one million families. More than 6,000 programs in the country are based on the Toyota model. Beginning with an approach that focused on improving the education of preschool children, Toyota’s partnership has expanded to include a model for elementary schools and, in its most recent initiative, a model that specifically meets the language and literacy needs of Hispanic and other immigrant families. This initiative, the Toyota Family Literacy Program, serves 60 elementary schools in 20 communities with a high or increasing Hispanic population.

The Family and Child Education (FACE) program, sponsored by the Bureau of Indian Education, provides culturally responsive education, resources and support for American Indian families with children from birth to grade three. Begun in 1990, the FACE model is focused on high-quality instruction, teambuilding and networking, staff development, and evaluation. To date, the FACE program has reached more than 20,000 individuals and currently operates in 39 American Indian schools.

The La Lectura en Familia—Families Reading Together pilot program will initially serve 200 Hispanic families with preschool children at the YDI Head Start Embudo Center in Albuquerque as well as sites in New Rochelle, NY and Denver, CO. It was created by NCFL through a grant from the Pitney Bowes Literacy and Education Fund. Working through selected Head Start centers, the goal of the program is to foster a learning environment in the home that maintains strong cultural and language bonds between parents and their children.

Mobilizing Community Resources

In 2003, NCFL announced the establishment of the Hispanic Family Learning Institute (HFLI), a concerted effort to develop resources and disseminate information about working with the growing Hispanic/Latino populations throughout the U.S. This umbrella initiative has facilitated significant partnerships with Toyota, IBM, Verizon Communications, Dollar General, Edunet24, the Mexican Consulate in Indianapolis, the Center for Applied Linguistics, the U.S. Office of Vocational and Adult Education, and the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans.

To increase the capacity of family literacy programs to use volunteers effectively, the UPS Family Literacy Volunteer Academy offers teachers and administrators the necessary tools to recruit and integrate volunteers successfully. As part of this initiative, a culturally sensitive program was designed for volunteer tutors and piloted in four states. The instructional program provides guided activities that use specific language learning strategies to help parents build and practice English conversation skills.

Tools to Bring About Change

The Thinkfinity Literacy Network (TLN) is a free, online platform that leverages technology to deliver needed and valued resources to anyone interested in improving literacy. With content developed and approved by literacy experts like NCFL and ProLiteracy Worldwide, the TLN is designed to empower teachers, volunteers, parents, caregivers and students of all ages with the tools to advance literacy development. The TLN is funded through a generous grant from Verizon Communications. Visit the TLN at http://www.thinkfinity.org.

Through the Family Literacy Academy, funded by The Annenberg Foundation, NCFL is developing research-based resources that will improve parent involvement strategies in schools. As part of this initiative, NCFL has designed a tiered system of professional development for elementary schools and districts to facilitate sustained parent-school partnerships, including training for administrators at the district level to learn how to create a community of learners that includes all school personnel and all families.

NCFL’s role in the Family Partnership in Reading is to translate the vast body of scientific reading research into strategies that parents and teachers can use to improve children’s reading. Funded by the National Institute for Literacy through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Education, this initiative brings together national experts to share proven practices that support early literacy development. To read about the National Early Literacy Panel, click here.

The Goodling Institute for Research in Family Literacy at Penn State University is increasing higher education opportunities for educators though distance learning. No other university in the country offers a graduate certificate program in family literacy. To prepare future educators to work with parents as well as their children, NCFL provides an intensive course of instruction that includes practical as well as theoretical approaches. To date, 120 students have enrolled in the program, offered through Penn State’s online World Campus.

To read about NCFL's past initiatives, click here.

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