Commitment to literacy: Raising a Reader – MA

The Brockton Adult Learning Center, a program partner with Raising a Reader – MA (RAR-MA) since September of 2010, supports Brockton area adults to master skills for employment, lifelong learning, and everyday life.  It is designed to reach residents preparing for their High School Equivalency Test or seeking to improve their English language skills. 

The Adult Learning Center has an active Family Learning Program where 15 families with three- and four-year-old children attend school together, four mornings each week. Parents attend the Adult Basic Education (ABE) classes while their children participate in developmentally appropriate early childhood classes. The children receive the RAR-MA rotating red book bag program in their classroom. Meanwhile, the adult family members receive RAR-MA family engagement workshops integrated into their ABE classes. 

The focus of the RAR-MA curriculum is on dialogic reading and interactive strategies that support healthy brain development and promote simple and effective ways for families to share books together. RAR-MA’s model is supported by more than 30 years of research that shows that being regularly read to by a parent or caregiver before kindergarten is a significant factor that impacts a child’s academic success. 

Having parents and children attend programming at the same time in the same place helps create an impactful and well attended program and an exemplary model for family engagement. The families in this program embody incredible strength and fortitude toward learning and a commitment to improved literacy for themselves and their children.