A one-year pilot program was conducted in 14 local education authorities in the United Kingdom to identify strategies to increase home support for numeracy, and to raise the skills of children and parents. The study ran from Sept–March 97–98, and involved 517 parents, nearly all women, and 515 children. Most parents had low math skills, and were not employed outside the home. There were statistically significant gains for the children in the program, compared to a control group. Test results showed more students in the study scored in the middle and high range than the control group, and fewer in low range; also most (more than 80% in each case) showed gains in confidence, interest, improved concentration and persistence. Adults in the study reported increased numeracy-related activities at home, increased contact with child’s teacher and increased participation in school activities. Many completed at least one level of maths qualifications. The model includes separate sessions for groups of children and parents, and sessions with parents and children together, and activities to take home (Family numeracy adds up. Lessons from the family numeracy pilot programme, 1998).
This program differs from the others in that it offered a highly structured numeracy program for both parents and children, and reports that parents were most successful at the sites where all the parents had a similar low level of skills. At sites where some parents had higher skills, the needs of parents with low levels were not met as well.
This is a program developed at the University of Western Ontario, Faculty of Education, based on the family math program in Berkeley, in which activities are developed and volunteers trained to work with groups of parents, often in schools where students are at risk of early drop out or failure to graduate. There are two programs, one for families with children in junior and senior kindergarten and grade 1 and another for families with children in grades 2–5. Families attend 6 family math sessions, which start with a nutritious supper, and are facilitated by an experienced teacher/leader and five or six volunteers, who have received about 10 hours of training. Sessions are often held outside the school for the greater comfort of parents whose experience with school is not good; activities involve walks, games and experiments, using everyday materials; some of the activities reflect the Aboriginal culture of many of the families involved; facilitators model techniques for interacting with kids (Esso Family Math). A very positive response from parents is reported (On-slow, 2002).
The subtitle of this project is “Early Childhood Mathematics among Children of the Oklahoma Seminole Head Start and Boley Head Start.” It was developed to encourage parents of Native American and Black preschool and kindergarten children to use math activities and games at home over the summer. Activities and games included many from Seminole culture. Parents were provided with a set of supplies and instructions for activities, an initial meeting to explain their use, a portable computer lab and a math fair. Students were tested after the summer program (Sears, 1992).
The Education Resources Centre (ERC) is a community-based organization that serves students from various elementary schools united by the Phoenix Coalition for Youth and Families (PCYF), which serves the lower socio-economic areas of inner-city Phoenix. A study of those families and children who had participated in the family math and science program showed its success. There was increased interest in science and math among parents and children; parents wanted their children to study science and math, and, in part because of the kind of instruction they experienced in the program, they believed their children would be able to learn science and math. 164 students in grades 1–6, were surveyed, 54 parents, 8 program instructors and 155 program instructor trainees (Jaramillo, 1993).