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May 31, 2022 I
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6 resources to support families learning together all summer long

Summer break is here. It's time to find fun and engaging activities to encourage students and their families to keep learning throughout summer months! The team at NCFL has rounded up a list of ...  Read more »

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Dec 20, 2021 I
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NCFL publishes two new resources for educators and program staff

NCFL has published two free resources for those working with families in family literacy, learning, and engagement settings. Our Recruitment & Retention Toolkit supports program staff throughout ...  Read more »

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Aug 13, 2021 I
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Upcoming webinar: Using Language Justice to Uplift Family Voices

Language justice allows organizations to build capacity from within—benefitting from community leaders and parenting adults who have seen language as a barrier to their leadership and ...  Read more »

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Sep 16, 2020 I
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Insights from the field: Teachers react to virtual instruction

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues and millions of U.S. students learn virtually this fall, teachers from across the country share their candid thoughts. In Kentucky, elementary teacher Jennifer ...  Read more »

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Jun 9, 2020 I
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Ideas to encourage at-home active learning for children

NCFL understands the struggle families face caring for and teaching their children as life at home continues this summer. Many of our staff have school-aged and preschool children and are ...  Read more »

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May 5, 2020 I
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Are you writing instructions for families? Consider these tips.

As teachers and school staff continue to create digital assignments and send home more written instructions to families, it is important to write clearly and simply so that families interpret ...  Read more »

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Apr 21, 2020 I
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Engaging high school students and their families during distance learning

As teachers and school staff navigate remote instruction, consider these tips for engaging high schoolers and their families:  Listen to families. Administer surveys to families to gauge the ...  Read more »

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Jan 22, 2020 I
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Affirming student differences: Facing personal bias

When it comes to student achievement, one educational resource has a heavier impact than any other. It’s not new technology, assessment data, or even anchor charts--although, of course, all of ...  Read more »

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Jan 9, 2020 I
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Affirming student differences: Getting to know students

Kristen Whitaker, 2015 Toyota Family Teacher of the Year, once said, “It is important that we are able to put ourselves in the shoes of our families. To try and help them, we need to understand ...  Read more »

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Dec 10, 2019 I
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Affirming student differences: Creating an environment of inclusion

Note: This is the first in a series of three blog posts highlighting strategies educators can use to affirm student differences in the classroom. As one semester comes to an end, the opportunity of ...  Read more »

NCFL Partners

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Toyota

Toyota, one of the nation's most successful corporations, began a partnership with NCFL in 1991. In addition to a commitment of more than $50 million, Toyota has also contributed a wealth of in-kind support — including advertising, planning and management expertise — to form one of the most progressive corporate/nonprofit partnerships in the nation.

Three major programs have been developed through the Toyota partnership based on the family literacy model of parents and children learning together. These models have influenced federal and state legislation, leveraged local dollars to support family literacy and led to successful programs being replicated across the country.

Read more about Toyota's commitment to communities

William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust

NCFL received its very first donation in 1989 from the William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust to promote and implement family literacy programming, first in Kentucky and North Carolina and later nationwide. The Kenan Family Literacy Model in part laid the groundwork for 30 years of subsequent family literacy and family learning programming developed by NCFL.

Kenan has continued to support NCFL’s place-based family literacy programs since our inception. Most recently, it has invested in our organization’s Sharon Darling Innovation Fund, which will launch emerging ideas and programmatic evolutions in the multigenerational learning space.

Learn more about the William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust

Dollar General Literacy Foundation

The Dollar General Literacy Foundation began partnering with NCFL in 2006. A signature effort of this partnership is the National Literacy Directory, a resource that launched in 2010 and strives to guide potential students and volunteers to literacy services, community education programs, and testing centers in their communities.

The National Literacy Directory contains over 10,000 educational agencies located across the United States and has a dedicated toll-free number to help support those wanting to pursue educational opportunities in their communities.

Dollar General also provides support for development of NCFL’s innovative family learning resources centered on financial literacy and Parent and Child Together (PACT) Time®.

Learn more about the Dollar General Literacy Foundation

PNC Grow Up Great

PNC Grow Up Great believes deeply in the power of high-quality early childhood education and provides innovative opportunities that assist families, educators and community organizations to enhance children's learning and development.

PNC Grow Up Great has partnered with NCFL since 1994, most recently in Louisville, Kentucky, to support Say & Play with Words, our pre-Kindergarten vocabulary-building initiative.

NCFL's work is also featured on the PNC Grow Up Great Lesson Center website. The Lesson Center includes over 100 free, high-quality preschool lesson plans and research-based instructional techniques and strategies. All lesson plans contain Home/School Connections printouts, in English and Spanish, to help families extend and reinforce the learning at home.

Learn more about PNC Grow Up Great

U.S. Department of Education

Initiated through the U.S. Department of Education in 2018, the Statewide Family Engagement Centers (SFEC) program provides 12 grantees and 13 states with five-year, $5 million grants to promote and implement systemic evidenced-based family engagement strategies. NCFL was selected to lead SFECs in two states, Arizona and Nebraska, and is a primary partner for two other SFECs in Kentucky and Maryland/Pennsylvania. 

The SFECs work to support family engagement through state- and local-level agencies while providing both professional development to school districts and direct services to families related to children’s academic outcomes and overall well-being.

Learn more about the U.S. Department of Education

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

NCFL was named a recipient of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s "Voices for Economic Opportunity Grand Challenge," which seeks to elevate diverse voices in order to broaden the conversation about the issues inhibiting economic mobility and generate deeper awareness along with actionable understanding. NCFL will develop and launch a podcast series that will highlight the remarkable stories of low-income, diverse families across the U.S. who have improved their communities through Family Service Learning.

Foundation Website