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 the evaluation of the implementation and outcomes of the Family Literacy Initiative.  The Evaluation is bieng conducted in two Phases:

Phase 2 (Years 5-8):

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 include information on program quality, child development, parent learning, and other family outcomes, and analyses focus on the relation between program participation, program quality, and child and family outcomes. The documents below describe outcomes for children and families participating in the 22 Family Literacy programs throughout LA County and identify program quality features that were associated with those outcomes.