[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 89 (Friday, June 28, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1182]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         WILLIAM F. GOODLING EVEN START FAMILY LITERACY PROGRAM

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. SUSAN DAVIS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 27, 2002

  Mrs. DAVIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to offer a bill 
today that will support the learning opportunities of our most 
vulnerable children by supporting their literacy training from their 
very earliest days until they are in school.
  These are children of families who qualify for Even Start because 
they are low socioeconomic families who may also be English learners.
  Without the existing William F. Goodling Even Start Family Literacy 
Program, these children would arrive for their first day of school 
without the literacy skills to compete at that starting line. Even 
those who were able to get a scarce place in the Head Start program, 
would find that, hard as they worked through their school years, they 
were unlikely ever to catch up.
  The population served by Even Start generally has low levels of 
education, with 86 percent of parents not having completed high school 
upon entering the program (compared to about 27 percent of Head Start 
parents). Eighty percent of participants have a family income below 
$15,000 and over 40 percent have income below $6,000. This is a high 
need population.
  What the program offers is both literacy-training classes for the 
children and also family literacy programs for the parents. Children 
participating in Even Start are provided with age-appropriate 
educational services to ensure that they will achieve at a level 
similar to that of their peers. Liaison advisors work with each family 
to promote strong literacy support experiences, to help parents learn 
ways they can develop their own English literacy skills, and to provide 
support groups for parents to share the challenges and skills of 
parenting.
  Adults in these family literacy programs tend to participate longer 
than those in regular adult education programs because of the benefits 
family literacy programs provide to their children. They see benefits 
such as improved literacy skills, reduced dependency on federal/state 
assistance programs, and enhanced employment opportunities. Most 
importantly, they are empowered to be their child's first and most 
important teacher.
  Nationally, Even Start funds approximately 1,400 programs and serves 
approximately 50,000 families.
  This bill will set aside funding to establish nationwide programs to 
assist in the training of program directors and facilitators in 
research-based literacy training skills. Because of new legislation, 
particularly the new qualifications for personnel, the performance 
objectives, and the new ``scientifically-based reading research'' 
requirement for instructional programs, local Even Start programs need 
this type of assistance.
  Additionally, I have requested an evaluation to provide a 
longitudinal look at the achievement of children who have been assisted 
by the program.
  When I have visited Even Start classes for children and for their 
parents, it is overwhelming to hear their expressions of appreciation 
for the program and its leaders. Adults expressed amazement at the 
change in their children's feeling about reading and learning when they 
made reading together a regular part of their day. One mother told me 
how she thought she couldn't help her five year old with reading, but, 
thanks to the program, she realized that it was good for them to read 
together and help each other with the words each didn't know.
  President Bush has declared that an additional step in his efforts to 
reform education will be to prod parents, day-care centers and 
preschools to teach more skills to children before they get to 
kindergarten. Even Start provides just such a program for parents to 
develop the literacy skills enabling them to perform this task.
  All children deserve an even start. This bill will assure that they 
have well-trained facilitators to give their families the skills to 
compete fairly at the starting line.

                          ____________________