ABE steps up family literacy program

The Northern Marianas College Adult Basic Education recently graduated the first batch of its family literacy program students from Koblerville Elementary School, completing an intensive 12-week course that began last summer.

After KES, ABE Director Fe Calixterio disclosed plans to extend ABE’s services to other public schools in the hopes of increasing the knowledge and know-how of parents with low literacy skills.

The NMC ABE’s family literacy program is principally aimed at promoting parents’ more active involvement in their children’s learning.

“Considering that we have a good number of adults who are not high school graduates, I would suspect there are more parents out there who are low literates. And we want to encourage parents to participate in the education of their children and update their skills also,” said Ms. Calixterio.

Oleai Elementary School, San Vicente Elementary School, and Hopwood Junior High School have already expressed interest in conducting family literacy sessions at their campuses.

According to Ms. Calixterio, it is the college’s goal to cover all public grade schools based on the memorandum of understanding that ABE has entered into with the Public School System.

Family literacy services are offered to individuals who have attained 16 years of age, who are not enrolled or required to be enrolled in secondary school under the state law, and who lack sufficient mastery of basic educational skills.

The Workforce Investment Act, the Reading Excellence Act (including the Even Start amendments) and the Headstart Act amendments are three major federal legislation that mandate state-owned schools to tackle family literacy. All three legislation include a comprehensive definition of family services.

Family literacy services are defined as services that are of sufficient in terms of hours, and of sufficient duration, to make sustainable changes in a family through integration activities.

Such activities include interactive literacy sessions between parents and their children, training for parents regarding how to be the primary teacher for their children and full partners in the education of their children, parent literacy training that leads to economic self-sufficiency and age-appropriate education to prepare children for success in school and life experiences. (MM)