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Family, Career and Technical Education
Even Start Family Literacy Program
Purpose/Overview
The purpose of Even Start is to help break the cycle of poverty and illiteracy by improving educational opportunities of the nation's low-income families by integrating early childhood education, adult literacy or adult basic education, parenting education, and parent and child interactive literacy activities into a unified family literacy program. Programs are implemented through cooperative projects that build on high quality existing community resources to create a new range of services, to promote the academic achievement of children and adults, and to assist children and adults to achieve challenging State content and student performance standards. Parents who have previously dropped out of school or who lack literacy skills and/or teen parents currently enrolled in school are provided literacy education as well as training to improve their parenting skills. Quality early childhood programs are also provided for young children of participating parents in an intergenerational setting. The program shall also use instructional programs based on scientifically based reading research and on the prevention of reading difficulties for children and adults, to the extent such research is available.
The program includes parents eligible for services under the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act and their children from birth through age 7. It was reauthorized in January 2002 as part of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, Title I, Part B, Subpart 3. The program shall—
(1) Be implemented through cooperative projects that build on high quality existing community resources to create a new range of services
(2) Promote the academic achievement of children and adults
(3) Assist children and adults from low-income families to achieve challenging state content and student performance standards
(4) Use instructional programs based on scientifically based reading research and the prevention of reading difficulties for children and adults
Even Start Grantees 2005-06
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Staff Qualifications
The majority of individuals providing academic instruction in Even Start whose salaries are paid in whole or in part with Even Start funds will have an associate’s, bachelor’s, or graduate degree in a field related to early childhood education, elementary or secondary school education, or adult education, and, if applicable, meet state qualifications/requirements for those areas; all new personnel must meet these requirements before being hired. After 12/21/04, the administrator of local family literacy services must have received training in the operation of a family literacy program, and paraprofessionals who provide support for academic instruction must have a high school diploma or its equivalent.
Instructional programs must be founded on scientifically based reading research.
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Eligible Applicants
Section 1232 of the Even Start Statute limits applicants to eligible entities, defined as a partnership composed of BOTH a local educational agency (public school system) and a non-profit community-based organization, a public agency other than an LEA, an institution of higher education, or a public or private nonprofit organization other than an LEA, of demonstrated quality.
Eligible entities applying as a non-profit organization should place documentation of such status in the appendix. Information demonstrating quality of the organization must also be included.
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Eligible Participants
Local Even Start Family Literacy programs screen applicants and serve families who are identified as those in greatest need. Parents who have previously dropped out of school or who lack literacy skills, including teen parents currently enrolled in the school system, are provided literacy education as well as training to improve their parenting skills. Programs that collaborate with Title I, Part A are allowed to expand Even Start services to children who are 8 years of age or older if funds from the Part A program are used to contribute to the cost of providing programs for these children.
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Accountability
Federal...
requires an independent evaluation of the program to (1) determine the performance and effectiveness of the program; (2) identify effective Even Start programs; and (3) provide technical assistance to States and subgrantees to ensure that local evaluations provide accurate information on the effectiveness of the program.
State...
requires that States use their indicators of program quality to monitor, evaluate, and improve Even Start programs within the state.
Local...
requires a subgrantee to provide for an independent program evaluation that is to be used for program improvement.
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