A new literacy program in four Denver schools promises to lift up entire families, and the community, by educating parents as well as their children.
More than 100 families will participate in the Toyota Family Literacy Program, coordinated by the National Center for Family, Denver Public Schools and Metropolitan State College. It aims to help Hispanics and other immigrant families with basic language and literacy skills.
It should be a worthwhile program, simply because it acknowledges that today’s Hispanic students can become much more than a statistic if their parents are engaged in their schooling, and if they can not only help them with their homework but also communicate effectively with school officials.
In some families, where the parents speak little or no English, school leaders have trouble expressing just how desperate a student’s situation might be regarding poor grades or attendance. Without help from home, far too many students slip through the cracks of our schools.
This program brings parents, mostly mothers, into the schools each day, where they learn how to speak English and also about services available in the community. They also spend time in their child’s class, often during reading courses.
In other communities with the program, attendance, grades and test scores all have gone up. Toyota has chipped in $600,000 for the program at three schools – Columbian, Farview and Valdez elementary schools, while Metropolitan State College is funding it at a fourth, Monroe Elementary.
Metro, which has the state’s largest minority student population, understands the importance of educating Denver’s minority communities early. Not only does it increase the pool of potential Metro applicants, it keeps the area’s economy chugging.
If this program shows good results, DPS should work to expand it.
