One School’s Efforts to Improve Student Reading Skills and Parent Literacy Support
Location
Morgan
Session Format
Presentation
Abstract
This phenomenographical study analyzes the Family Reading Night Program at a rural elementary school in Georgia. The purpose of the qualitative study was to discover what the school staff and the parents perceived the benefits and challenges of the Family Reading Night program to be. For the program, the school invited ten students who were reading below grade level and their entire families to attend four evening sessions at the school. At each session, the entire family was fed a meal and participated in a reading activity that focused on a storytelling strategy parents could practice with their children at home. Each session concluded with an activity that connected to the theme of the story read at the session and each family received a free copy of the book. Through interviews conducted with the school principal and participating staff members, surveys completed by the parents, and observations of each session, the data overwhelmingly showed that Family Reading Night participants perceived the program to be beneficial for struggling readers and also beneficial for the participating parents, who learned storytelling strategies they can use with their children at home.
Keywords
Key Words: early literacy skills, family engagement, language nutrition, school readiness, literacy instructional strategies
Professional Bio
Karey Williams has worked in Whitfield County Schools for 24 years after moving to Georgia in 1999. She worked as a secondary English teacher before moving into administration in 2005. She has held assistant principal and principal positions at both the elementary and high school levels, and she currently serves as Deputy Superintendent. Ms. Williams completed her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, and she completed her Educational Specialist’s degree at Lincoln Memorial University in Tennessee. She is currently working to complete her Doctorate in Education Leadership at Kennesaw State University.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Williams, Karey L., "One School’s Efforts to Improve Student Reading Skills and Parent Literacy Support" (2024). Georgia Educational Research Association Conference. 14.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/gera/2024/2024/14
One School’s Efforts to Improve Student Reading Skills and Parent Literacy Support
Morgan
This phenomenographical study analyzes the Family Reading Night Program at a rural elementary school in Georgia. The purpose of the qualitative study was to discover what the school staff and the parents perceived the benefits and challenges of the Family Reading Night program to be. For the program, the school invited ten students who were reading below grade level and their entire families to attend four evening sessions at the school. At each session, the entire family was fed a meal and participated in a reading activity that focused on a storytelling strategy parents could practice with their children at home. Each session concluded with an activity that connected to the theme of the story read at the session and each family received a free copy of the book. Through interviews conducted with the school principal and participating staff members, surveys completed by the parents, and observations of each session, the data overwhelmingly showed that Family Reading Night participants perceived the program to be beneficial for struggling readers and also beneficial for the participating parents, who learned storytelling strategies they can use with their children at home.
