A meta-study done by Brooks, Pahl, Pollard and Rees (2008) looked at international studies
of the effectiveness of family language, literacy and numeracy programs. J. D. Carpentieri
(2008) reported on the study in a special issued of Reflect, the magazine of the National
Research and Development Centre for Adult Literacy and Numeracy in the UK. The study
done by Brooks et al reviewed 19 studies from 14 countries, studies which had generated
quantitative evidence. In the area of numeracy, the studies showed that the programs improved
test scores of both parents and children. Numerous other benefits were reported,
including “improved childrearing practices, increased parental involvement in their children’s
schools, greater parental self-confidence and increased employment
” (Carpentieri,
2008, p.10). Where the studies included follow-up data, most showed that gains from the
programs were sustained over time.
Many school boards and community family literacy programs in Canada, the USA and the UK have developed and implemented their own programs. These vary widely in size and comprehensiveness, ranging from a few photocopied activity sheets to complete programs with background information, activities for children, workshops for parents, and so on. As well, education departments at various governmental levels have produced material for families that is available for downloading, or for distribution by other means.
A minority of programs seem more concerned with supporting the school math curriculum than with developing math thinking in a more natural context. Such programs often offer sets of materials for parents to use at home, but do not involve groups sessions for parents. An example is Knapsack Math (Martin, 1993), a program in which kits were developed for ABE students to take home to use with their kids. The activities use materials found around the home, but the activities are closely tied to the school curriculum rather than to home activities; it is suggested that parents set up a special place for math activities as a way of showing how important math is. This practice would also give children the idea that math is somehow separate from real life, not completely entwined with it.
Medina County Kindergarten Home Activities (Neiner & et al., 1995) is another example of a program that is designed to support the school curriculum, and in this case the standardized testing program:
The suggested activities, carefully chosen by Medina County, Ohio, kindergarten teachers, were designed to reinforce skills introduced in the classroom and to further develop the foundation for competency based education testing and evaluation (Neiner & et al., 1995, abstract).
The majority of programs I looked at, especially more recent ones, centre their activities on situations that naturally come up between parent and child. Following are brief summaries of some well known programs.
The program was developed at the Lawrence Hall of Science, Berkeley in 1979. Teachers are trained in a three-day session to run a program of six family math nights for parents and children, introducing games and exercises that can be done at home. This program has been adopted by school districts and other programs across the USA and around the world (Family math).