Poster #86 - Testing the Impact of a Series of Culturally Situated Literacy Workshops for African American Families

• In Event: 2-163 - Poster Session 08
  In Poster Session: PS 08 Section - Education, Schooling

Integrative Statement

A long-standing critique of family literacy programs is that they seldom build on the strengths of families from marginalized communities (Anderson, Anderson, Friedrich, & Kim, 2010; Auerbach, 1989, 1995; Reyes & Torres, 2007). This concern is consistent with meta-analytic findings that family literacy interventions are less effective for families from racial/ethnic minority and low-income backgrounds (Manz, Hughes, Barnabas, Bracaliello, & Ginsburg-Block, 2010). While some interventions align with how families from marginalized communities engage in literacy in their lives (e.g., Purcell-Gates et al., 2012; Rodriquez-Brown, 2004), few have tested the impact of such programs using experimental methods (e.g., Hammer & Sawyer, 2016). The present study seeks to provide additional empirical evidence for socially and culturally sensitive family programs.
This study tested the impact of a series of culturally situated literacy workshops for African American (AA) first- and second-grade children and their families. The study addressed two research questions:
1. Does being assigned to and participating in the workshop series have positive impacts on AA families’ end-of-program reports of home literacy engagement, caregiver self-efficacy in supporting their children in literacy, and children’s end-of program literacy knowledge, skills, and attitudes?
2. Do AA families who attend more workshop sessions have higher end-of-program reports of literacy engagement, beliefs, knowledge, skills, and attitudes?

Method
The study used an experimental design with random assignment. Children were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: a workshop condition or a waitlist control condition. The sample included 92 socioeconomically diverse AA families recruited from two school districts in the Midwestern United States. Children were mostly female (55%) and ranged in age from 5.82 to 9.28 years (M=7.13, SD=0.80). Approximately 61% children were first-graders. All caregivers were female and included mostly mothers/step-mothers (87%). Caregivers ranged in age from 21 to 66 (M=33.55, SD=10.06) and 7% had received at least a bachelor’s degree. Workshop series programming: The series included five monthly two-hour literacy sessions. At each session, families learned, engaged in, and received feedback on their use of research-informed literacy strategies addressing six literacy constructs. These strategies were embedded within literacy activities aligned with the social (e.g., write recipes) and cultural (e.g., texts with AA themes) context of AA homes. Families also received weekly text messages to provide ongoing support between workshops sessions.

Results
The study used OLS regression models to determine the impact of the workshop series. Caregivers and children were balanced on beginning-of-program observables (Table 1). Forty-six percent of families attended at least one workshop session. RQ1: Caregivers who attended at least one session had gains in self-efficacy to provide literacy support, although these findings were not robust. RQ2: Children attending three or more sessions had gains in their self-efficacy (d=0.69) and in reading attitudes (d=0.38; Table 2).

Discussion and Conclusions
A workshop series aligned with AA families’ values and practices shows promise in promoting positive literacy attitudes and beliefs among children and families. Research-practice partnerships can identify cultural aspects of family values, practices, and beliefs to be included in school-based and out-of-school program development to support early learning.

Author

• Shana Rochester, Boston University
  Presenting Author