They are based on the notion that literacy, because it is social and cultural in nature, is best developed within the context of the family. They situate literacy learning within the context of daily family life, acknowledge a broad range of culturally influenced ways of knowing, and provide greater access and comfort in dealing with schools. Any program that includes literacy that can be used in the family context could be referred to as a family literacy program. Family literacy is not limited to projects that focus on the development of young children's literacy, though many programs do limit their scope to only include families with preschool or primary grade children. Family literacy programs have proliferated over the past decade, yet there is no one model that exemplifies all the possible configurations of parent-child learning situations.
Successful programs do, however, share several characteristics.
Conclusion Family literacy is a new and exciting arena for improving the relationship s between language minority families and schools by situating learning experiences in the context of the family. Designing and carrying out such programs requires a commitment that goes beyond traditional investments in improving home- school partnerships. We must look for new ways to provide useful and appropriate information about their children's learning to parents who were not educated in this country, and we must learn to draw on the resources that families can offer in bridging the home-school gap. Although family literacy programs often focus more on changing how families relate to schools, they must also begin to influence changes in the schools so that they better respond to the realities of the families' lives. As the field of family literacy develops, it has the chance to play a pivotal role in reshaping the education of language minority children, a difficult yet critical challenge.