Building Our Capacity to Forge Successful Home-School Partnerships: Programs That Support and Honor the Contributions of Families.

This article focuses on two programs that were created to enhance parent involvement practices in literacy. The goal of both programs was to create for parents enjoyable and rich experiences around literacy in the home, while demonstrating for parents how teachers approach reading instruction in the classroom. Programs to increase and support parental involvement in children's literacy development must recognize the realities of family life and how parents' perceptions and beliefs may affect their participation. When parents witness their children's improvement, and see themselves as part of this improvement, they will be more motivated to pursue literacy development activities with their children at home. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]