Becoming a successful reader and learner is life-changing. Yet far too many educators and families are grappling with the widening literacy gap, and how to help students overcome reading and learning challenges. Research shows a strong correlation between student success in school and parent-educator partnership and home support for student literacy from PreK-12th grade. It sounds simple, but making these connections can be challenging for both educators and parents. To help bridge that divide, Dollar General Literacy Foundation and Learning Ally are working together with school districts and families across the country. “The gift of literacy means granting opportunities, confidence, and hope,” said Denine Torr, executive director of the Dollar General Literacy Foundation. “We are proud to partner with Learning Ally to support educators and families in ensuring that individuals of all ages have access to a quality education. We look forward to witnessing more opened doorways and pursued dreams for students using these resources.”
The program is comprised of two important initiatives:
The Family Literacy Tool Kit
Home support is beneficial to reading success. That is why we’re introducing our new Family Literacy Toolkit.
Families will find strategies to advocate for their child’s educational needs, especially if they are struggling learners or challenged with learning differences or disabilities.
And with both refreshed and evergreen content, families will gain knowledge, research-based tools and enjoyable and engaging activities to model literacy and bring literacy alive in the home.
School district educators and administrators will be provided with promotional assets to make this toolkit available to the families in their districts. The toolkit will be available through Learning Ally.org and outreach direct to educators and families will be ongoing through newsletters and social media, so keep an eye out for the latest and the greatest on family literacy!
School District Family Literacy Workshops
Our alliance with the Dollar General Literacy Foundation will provide Family Literacy Workshops in partnership with school districts using Learning Ally solutions in Dollar General hometown communities across America.
These workshops offer a unique school-to-home connection. Facilitated by Learning Ally literacy experts, these events bring school educators, parents, caregivers and students together for exciting interactive sessions supporting educator and family relationships. They educate family members on how they can better support their children in literacy and achieving success in their school classes.
Districts will be provided with downloadable assets for their participating families to keep the learnings fresh and provide additional “how=to” instruction so that they can put their learnings into practice in their homes.
About the Dollar General Literacy Foundation
Highlighting Dollar General’s mission of Serving Others, the Dollar General Literacy Foundation was founded more than 30 years ago in 1993 by Dollar General’s former CEO, Cal Turner, Jr. in honor of his grandfather and Dollar General co-founder, J.L. Turner, who was functionally illiterate and never completed a formal education.
The Foundation continually supports schools, libraries and non-profit organizations in their efforts to enhance quality classroom instruction, increase access to literacy programming, advance innovation and inspire the joy of reading through adult, family, youth and summer grants. Since its inception, the DGLF has donated more than $238 million, supporting more than 23,000 organizations, schools and libraries and nearly 20 million individuals.
To further outline a deeper understanding of America’s literacy opportunities and challenges, the Foundation commissioned the 2022 State of American Literacy Research Report which polled students, parents, teachers, adult learners and experts working to advance literacy and education across the country. Read more.