Seeing their parents in a classroom is a great motivation for children. They are proud of their parents and very supportive. Another motivating factor is that there is more free time in the home because the program includes time for homework for both children and parents.

Alpha Familiale was developed initially for the French adult learners in the Adult Literacy Program and their families. The program hopes to eventually open to the rest of the community.

Parents as Tutors
Parents as Tutors (PAT) is a partnership project between the Rainbow Literacy Society and the schools in the County of Vulcan #2. The objective of the project is to provide training and support to parents who are interested in helping their child become a better reader through a process known as Paired Reading. (Paired Reading was developed by the Northern Alberta Reading Specialists Council in 1991. See Works Cited for reference.)

PAT is available to families who have elementary school children in the County of Vulcan. A trained person from the community goes into the family's home five times a week for eight weeks. These sessions are fifteen minutes long, and are used to demonstrate Paired Reading. The trained community person is a non-teacher who acts as a liaison between the school and the family. This person's primary role is not to tutor the child, but to provide training and positive support to the parents as they develop skills as their child's tutor. In order to join the program, parents must agree to participate in each of the Paired Reading Sessions, and to take over from the tutor before the end of the sixth week.

Parents in Partnership
Parents in Partnership is a National Literacy Secretariat-funded project which began in Pincher Creek in 1995. It operates in all schools in Pincher Creek and the outlying district. The program is an outreach to "invisible parents," parents who don't feel comfortable coming into their children's schools, who separate the home and the school. These parents feel they have no part to play in their child's education, or have given up on it, perhaps based on their own school experience. The program is based on the Parents as Partners and similar programs in the United States.