Name of the Project

Alabama Even Start Statewide Family Literacy Initiative

Grantee Contact

Rosemary Mobley

Alabama State Department of Education

5114 Gordon Persons Building

50 North Ripley Street

Montgomery, AL 36104-3833

Tel: (334) 242-8199 and Fax: (334) 242-0496

E-mail: rmobley@sdenet.alsde.edu

Even Start Statewide Family Literacy Coordinator

Same as Grantee Contact

Even Start Statewide Family Literacy Initiative Project Goals

• To facilitate partnerships for the coordination and integration of existing resources at the Federal, State, and local levels.
• To facilitate the development of Statewide quality family literacy programming

Project Description

The Alabama Even Start Statewide Family Literacy Initiative will reach the above stated goals through several major activities. The first activity is to collaborate with programs/agencies that provide any of the four components of family literacy to foster comprehensive family literacy services. The second activity is to collaborate with the Alabama Reading Excellence Program (AREP) to develop Statewide communication about family literacy sites, resources, and services. The third is to increase understanding of the concept and benefits of family literacy. The fourth is to assist with continuous program improvement through the development of performance indicators to strengthen local evaluations. The final major activity is to identify, facilitate and/or provide training and technical assistance that meets needs at all levels. The link with the AREP will also provide an opportunity to use telecommunications for staff development and provide an evaluation study to assess the effects of program participation on language literacy skills of children and their parents.

Priorities

• 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