The Even Start Family Literacy Program:

Until recently, the nation's literacy problems have been addressed via a dual system of public and private sector programs: (1) remediation programs for adults in the form of adult education or workplace literacy programs and (2) prevention programs for children through early childhood education efforts such as Head Start (Barbara Bush Foundation, 1989). The seeds of a new approach were sown in the late 1970s and early 1980s when many of the first "family literacy " programs were planned and implemented. Drawing on existing early intervention and adult literacy programs, family literacy programs are predicated on the beliefs that children's early learning is greatly influenced by their parents, that parents must develop and value their own literacy skills in order to support their children's educational success, and that parents are their children's first and best teacher. In the late 1980s this new approach emerged in full force as family literacy programs proliferated under a very wide range of sponsors including state governments (e.g., Kentucky's PACE program), school districts (e.g., the Marin, California Library Family Literacy Program), private foundations (e.g., the Kena