Literacy Facts
Adult Literacy Helps Children

We all want children to do well in school. How can we insure that they will stay in school and reach their full potential?

Educate their parents.

Studies show that children's behavior and accomplishments in school correlate most strongly with the education level of their parents-especially of their mother.

- Children whose parents have not completed high school and are unemployed are 5 times more likely to drop out of school than children of parents who work.

- Children with parents in literacy programs improve grades and test scores, improve reading skills, and are less likely to drop out.

Parents' enhanced esteem and communication skills allow them to communicate comfortably with their children's teachers. They become advocates for their children's education. But becoming a positive role model is the most important improvement adult literacy students bring to their children's education.

As a Boston Globe analysis revealed, "…parents' education and income are still better predictors of MCAS scores" than…class size or "students' attendance rates or race." Educating parents is clearly the best way to give all children a chance to do well in school.

Parents in literacy programs also learn about nutrition, child development, and discipline issues so they can improve their parenting skills. As one parent said, "I never knew I should read to my toddler. Now I do it all the time."

Since, on average, over 90% of our adult learners are parents, educating adults is the best way to help children thrive and succeed. Your gift has a built in multiplier effect
that helps break the intergenerational cycle of low litereacy.