Goal
The goal of the Family Literacy Special Collection is to provide individuals working with families a way to access a variety of high quality resources quickly and easily. These resources include scientifically based research about family literacy and information about parenting issues, professional development, interactive children's activities, classroom materials, and more. The resources in this collection are chosen on the basis of their quality and their ability to enhance the literacy acquisition of family literacy program participants.

Audience
The audience for the Family Literacy Special Collection is divided into three broad categories:

• Families (parents/caregivers and children)
• Practitioners working with families (teachers, tutors, and other staff)
• Managers/Administrators of programs that work with families (directors and coordinators)

Selection Criteria
All resources included in the Family Literacy Special Collections are reviewed using the general LINCS Selection Criteria.

In addition to the general criteria, the specific criteria listed below are used to ensure the quality and usefulness of the materials in the collection:
Specific Criteria for Family Literacy:

• Materials are informed by the principle that family literacy is driven by comprehensive, holistic approaches to education in which parents and children learn and grow together
• The resources are interactive or provide information that will lead to interactive activities
• Materials reflect and/or address the literacy strengths and needs of the family/community.
• Materials recognize the reciprocal nature of adult -child relationships.
• The information is specifically focused on enhancing the acquisition of literacy.

Technology criteria:

• Site contains no commercial endorsements.
• Links for navigation are clearly labeled, consistently placed, allow the reader to easily move from a page to related pages (forward and back), and take the reader where s/he expects to go. A user does not become lost.

The Core Knowledge Group for the Family Literacy Special Collection is an advisory group of subject experts who provide input and set policy for the project. They assist in the quality control of the Collection by ensuring that the selection criteria differentiate the high quality resources that should be selected for inclusion and by locating and suggesting sites for review and by checking the progress of the site throughout the year. The members are:

• Connie Sapin - Ohio Literacy Resource Center
  Connie has approximately 20 years of experience in the field of family literacy that includes the following: Served as writer and now as a trainer for Intelecom for the Madison Heights/Lifelines family literacy project; Works for Ohio Literacy Resource Center first as an Assistant Director, and now as a Family Literacy Projects Coordinator; Even Start Coordinator and teacher for Cleveland Municipal Schools in Cleveland, Ohio; Family Life teacher for Cleveland Municipal Schools.

• Janet Isserlis - Literacy Resource Rhode Island
  Janet has worked with adult education programs as practitioner, researcher, evaluator and teacher educator since 1980. She was part of a team in Vancouver, BC, to develop a framework through which to consider broader contexts for intergenerational learning -- both within and beyond traditional educational settings. She has taught in intergenerational programs in Vancouver and since 1997 has been project director of Literacy Resources/RI.

• Nancy Markus - Ohio Literacy Resource Center
  Nancy teaches elementary and middle school math at Solomon Schechter Day School of Cleveland. She has spent the past 13 years working in adult education, as a teacher and trainer. As the Math Consultant for the Ohio Literacy Resource Center, Nancy has been active in staff development initiatives at the state and national levels.

• Sarah Beaman-Jones - LIFT, Missouri Literacy Resource Center
  Sarah has worked for LIFT, Missouri's resource center, for seven years providing technical assistance to family literacy sites developing and presenting workshops, and doing research in literacy related areas. Prior to her work at LIFT, she was a parent educator for nine years and trained parent educators to work with at-risk families at the National Center for Parents As Teachers (PAT).

• Jackie Hamlett - Adult and Family Literacy Consultant
  Jackie has approximately 16 years of experience in the adult and family literacy that includes the following: Served as Assistant Literacy Coordinator and Adult Learning Center Coordinator for the Lake County Literacy Program, now the Adult Learning Connection, Waukegan Public Library/College of Lake County; served as Train the Trainer for the Illinois

  Secretary of State Literacy Office; served as a reading instructor and technology consultant for The Reading Group, teaching multisensory reading to grades three through adult; and is currently an Adult and Family Literacy Consultant, and also works on special projects for the Educational Testing Service.

• Margaret Grumm - Institute for the Study of Adult Literacy
  Margaret is involved in the collection and quality control of the family literacy data for the Pennsylvania Statewide Evaluation of Family Literacy Programs. Ms. Grumm was involved in the writing and editing of the series "Rosalie's Neighborhood".

• Kim Starr - Conway Adult Education Center
  Kimberly began working as the Family Literacy Coordinator at the Conway Adult Education Center in the summer of 2000. She attends the National Conference for Family Literacy and the Even Start National Conference yearly. She has taught in all four components of the family literacy model.

• Barbara Krol-Sinclair - Intergenerational Literacy Program
  Barbara Krol-Sinclair is Director of the Intergenerational Literacy Program, a collaboration of Boston University and the Chelsea, MA Public Schools. Her primary interests include family literacy, supporting effective home-school partnerships, and development of adult literacy and second language literacy. She has worked extensively in adult, secondary, and elementary education in a variety of schools and community education settings throughout the United States, Honduras and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Dr. Krol-Sinclair has authored and co-authored several publications in the area of home-school collaborations. She is co-author on the research monograph, What Should We Expect of Family Literacy? and co-editor of Family Literacy: From Theory to Practice.

• Mimi Gavigan - Family Literacy Training Coordinator
  Mimi Gavigan has been Family Literacy Training Coordinator for three years. In this position Mimi coordinates training for family literacy programs across the state and provides technical assistance to programs.She works for the Statewide Family Literacy Professional Development Project housed at the Tuscarora Intermediate Unit in Pennsylvania. Previous to this position, Mimi was the Coordinator of the Even Start program in Reading, PA. Mimi has presented at both NCFL and NESA conferences and has a special interest in parenting education. Her career has included administrative, therapeutic, consultative and instructional positions in higher education and community based organizations. She recently served on the PA Governor's Task Force on Early Care and Education

This collection of resources relating to family literacy is currently maintained by the Midwest LINCS with funds from the National Institute for Literacy LINCS project. Your comments on these pages would be appreciated. Please contact us to make suggestions or contact Dianna Baycich directly at dbaycich@literacy.kent.edu.