Name of the Project

Family Literacy Statewide Initiative PACT (Publicity, Accountability, Collaboration, Technical Assistance)

Grantee Contact

Rita Lane, Even Start/Migrant Specialist

Mississippi Department of Education

P.O. Box 771

Jackson, MS 39205-0771

Tel: (601)359-3282 and Fax: (601)359-2587

E-mail: rlane@mde.k12.ms.us

Even Start Statewide Family Literacy Coordinator

Karon McIntosh, Division Director

Mississippi Department of Education

P.O. Box 771

Jackson, MS 39205-0771

Tel: (601)359-3778

Even Start Statewide Family Literacy Initiative Project Goals

• To establish an effective accountability system to improve family literacy programs
• To provide a system for capacity building for family literacy support through selected training choices
• To organize an intense and comprehensive information campaign regarding the economic and social merits of family literacy

Project Description

The consortium plans to develop a Statewide data collection system that will serve to identify programmatic needs for intervention, and the success of those interventions will be assessed in a longitudinal study. Special emphasis will be placed on evaluating interventions designed to support parents who have been released from prison. Representatives from adult education, Head Start, and Even Start will oversee the process to develop performance indicators, which will include public hearings in various regions of the State. During the two-year project, the initiative will provide workshops, both on-site and by videoconference, on family literacy interventions and on resource development. Finally, the initiative will support a public awareness campaign, employing television and radio to broadcast brief advertisements in English, Spanish, Vietnamese, and Choctaw. Newspaper articles and brochures will be printed in the same languages. A speakers’ bureau will be developed and made available as well, and a Statewide conference will be held to promote the concept of family literacy.

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