Family Literacy Program Evaluation

The First 5 LA Family Literacy program is a comprehensive program designed to promote literacy among low-income families in Los Angeles County.  There are three parts to the initiative: 1) grants to family literacy programs to expand or enhance their services, 2) the development of a training and technical assistance provider to support family literacy programs, and 3) an independent external evaluation of the initiative.  The initiative began in 2002 with 3 year grants awarded to 15 program.  Each program provides services in each of the four family literacy components: 1) early childhood education (ECE), 2) parent-child interactive literacy activities (PCILA), 3) parenting education, and 4) adult education.  In 2005, First 5 LA awarded new 5 year grants to 14 out of the 15 original grantees and 8 new grantees.

In 2002, First 5 LA contracted with the American Institutes for Research (AIR) to conduct a four-year evaluation (Phase 1) of the implementation and outcomes of the Family Literacy Initiative.  The results of Phase 1 of this evaluation are available in the Final Phase 1 Report below.  First 5 LA contracted with AIR again in 2006 (Phase 2) to conduct a second four-year evaluation of the initiative.  The goal of the second phase of the evaluation is to expand our understanding of the effects of the initiative on children, families, and programs by building on the first phase evaluation.  Data collected in the second phase includes data on program quality, child development, parent learning, and other family outcomes and the evaluation will focus on the relation between program participation, program quality, and child and family outcomes.