Long Range Plan 2003-2007 : Family Literacy  

In Massachusetts, more than 465,000 parents with children under 13 years of age are undereducated or limited English proficient and in need of literacy services for both their children and themselves. Children in 114,000 families have a parent who cannot read aloud to them. Children in 264,000 families have parents who can read at a basic level but have difficulty helping their children with homework.

It is documented that children living in homes with parents who have not completed high school are five to six times more likely to drop out of school than are other children. Family literacy enables parents to improve their skills to be more effective in their role as their children's first and most important teacher and enhance the value placed on education within the family.

Massachusetts's libraries have played an active role in both the delivery and support of family literacy services. A number of library-based literacy programs have been offering direct service as part of a constellation of literacy activities for parents and children for more than ten years. Other libraries support community literacy providers by offering family programs, modeling story reading by staff and maintaining appropriate materials from which parents and children are encouraged to select.