Alumna Kathy Fox of UC Santa Barbara’s Gevirtz School has co-edited, with Laura Szech, the Handbook of Research on Family Literacy Practices and Home-School Connections (IGI Global 2022). In addition, Fox, professor in the Department of Early Childhood, Elementary, Middle, Literacy and Special Education, received the Distinguished Teaching Professorship Award and the Board of Trustees’ Teaching Excellence Award, the most prestigious award conferred at the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW).
Research has shown that families and schools that partner together improve literacy outcomes for their students. Family literacy includes homework and shared book reading but goes beyond these school-to-home activities to encompass family-generated practices. These literacies include family connections around activities such as cooking, play, religion, social, and community groups. Further study on the importance of the partnership between the home and school is required to implement best practices and provide students with the best possible education.
The Handbook of Research on Family Literacy Practices and Home-School Connections seeks to understand the connections made and new information learned during the COVID-19 pandemic surrounding family literacy and shares updated practices and new perspectives on what it means to partner with families and embrace diverse family literacies in this new world. The book also provides teachers’ perspectives on how future relationships between the school and home can be shaped through both narrative and research-based chapters. Covering key topics such as parenting, homework, and social distancing, this major reference work is ideal for administrators, school faculty, academicians, scholars, practitioners, instructors, and students.
Kathy R. Fox (Education, Ph.D., ’03) is a professor of Language and Literacy. After spending the first twenty plus years of her professional career as an early childhood and elementary teacher in bilingual settings, she now works with pre- and in service teachers. Her scholarship is primarily in family literacy, specifically homework and the additive contributions of families and caregivers to children’s academic and social well-being.