Volume 13, Issue 2 Fall 2024 The Inextricable Links Between Adult Education and Family Literacy: A Look at Family Literacy and Adult Education with National Center for Families Learning
Author: Felicia C. Smith, EdD, Anna Kaiper-Marquez, PhD, & Amy Foster Parish
Subject Area: Literacy
Program Level: COABE Journal
Material Type: Journal
Language: English
License: (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) For license summary click here

Abstract:

The National Center for Families Learning (NCFL) has worked for over 35 years to eradicate poverty through education solutions for families. As the creator of the four-component framework—“the most well-known comprehensive family literacy model” (Prins et al., 2020, p. 206), codified into federal law in 1998—NCFL has a long history of intentional, intergenerational learning that can be passed from generation to generation. At its heart, NCFL’s founding can be traced back to adult education. This article explores NCFL’s decades of partnerships with national adult education partners to ensure that family literacy remains a staple of adult education programming across the country. Moreover, it details innovative connections between family literacy and adult education with a focus on digital literacies and multilingual literacies for adults, children, and families. The article concludes with an assertion that family literacy is a holistic approach to working with adult learners and families that goes beyond viewing the adult as a singular entity and, instead, recognizes the various identities of adults as learners, caregivers, students, and teachers.