Accessible and focused, this book offers dozens of easy-to-implement, research-based family involvement techniques and strategies teachers can use to get families involved in their child's literacy development. An early chapter captures family involvement strategies that can be implemented at the classroom level―such as vocabulary development activities, read to your child routines, and a family involvement homework calendar. A follow-up chapter focuses on effective school-wide family involvement programs―from easy first steps to effective parent volunteer initiatives. Focused coverage includes discussion of high-impact assessment techniques, as well as conversation-starting questions that work with book clubs, professional learning communities, and professional development workshops.
Gay Fawcett has been in education for over 36 years as a teacher, principal, language arts consultant, and curriculum director. She also directed Kent State University’s Research Center for Educational Technology. She currently teaches online and face-to-face courses for four major universities and provides curriculum consultation for schools and school districts. She has authored and/or co-authored more than 90 articles, books, and book chapters for educational publications including the Kappan, Educational Leadership, Language Arts, The Reading Teacher, and others. She served with Rasinski and Padak as an associate editor of The Reading Teacher. Dr. Fawcett earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and a master’s degree in reading from the University of Akron. She was awarded a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction with an emphasis in literacy from Kent State University. Her dissertation on middle school literacy received three awards, including ASCD’s Outstanding Dissertation Award.
Nancy D. Padak was a Distinguished Professor of Education at Kent State University where she directed the Reading and Writing Center and taught graduate courses in literacy education. She received the honor of Kent State University Distinguished Professor. She was a part of the team that wrote the initial grant to fund the state literacy resource center at Kent State University-Ohio Literacy Resource Center (OLRC) and has been a middle school and high school classroom teacher and K-12 administrator in a large urban school district. She frequently works with teachers and has written or edited a dozen books and more than 100 scholarly articles. Nancy is a past College Reading Association President and a former Editor of The Reading Teacher and the Journal of Literacy Research.
Timothy V. Rasinski is a Professor of Education in the Department of Teaching, Leadership, and Curriculum Studies. He teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in literacy education. His major interests include working with children who find reading difficult, phonics and reading fluency instruction, and teacher development in literacy education. He has published over 100 articles and 10 books on various aspects of reading education. Dr. Rasinski is past editor of The Reading Teacher and is currently an editor for the Journal of Literacy Research. He has served as president of the College Reading Association and he currently serves on the Board of Directors of the International Reading Association. He earned bachelor degrees in economics and education at the University of Akron and the University of Nebraska at Omaha. His master's degree in special education also comes from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Dr. Rasinski was awarded the Ph.D. from The Ohio State University.
