This Compact for Reading Guide and School-Home Links Reading Kit were developed for teachers, families, and reading partners through the Compact for Literacy Initiative, an activity of the Partnership for Family Involvement in Education at the U.S. Department of Education. The purpose of this effort is to encourage greater family, school, and community involvement in the education of children so as to improve their skills and achievement in reading and other language arts.
The principal authors of the Compact for Reading Guide are Mary Russo, Director of the Boston Annenberg Challenge; Gary Kosman of Northwestern University; and Alan Ginsburg, Susan Thompson-Hoffman, and Julie Pederson of the U.S. Department of Education.
The School-Home Links Reading Kit was developed by teams of teachers at the kindergarten through third grade levels. One team was coordinated by Mary Russo and Jonna Casey of the Boston Annenberg Challenge that included Margaret Sands, Kathleen Baron, and Crystal English of the Mason School in Boston. Another team was coordinated by Ellie Topolovac, Superintendent of the Solana Beach School District in California, which included Susana Baum, Janet Brice, Jaime Crowley, Rhona Grant, Deborah Hays, Cristy Maxcy, Marla Sammuli, David Topolovac, and Patricia Totina. Selected activities were adapted or reprinted with permission from How to Tutor Your Child in Reading and Writing (1998), published by the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) Clearinghouse on Reading, English, and Communication at Indiana University and the Family Learning Center, and Spelling for Writing (1998), by Carl Smith, published by ERIC and the Family Learning Center. Shira Herman, Alex Campbell, Sandra Richardson, and Azalea Saunders provided editing and formatting assistance. Alan Ginsburg and Susan Thompson-Hoffman coordinated the overall effort.
The School-Home Links in the School-Home Links Reading Kit are organized around skills frameworks provided in the National Academy of Sciences' report Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children, and a reading framework developed by Edward Kame'enui and Deborah Simmons of the University of Oregon.
These materials were extensively reviewed by teams of parents, teachers, and administrators and by participants at the 1998 Improving America's Schools Act and Title I Parents' Conferences.
The cover art, Wouldn't It Be Great If We Could All Be Winners?, was developed by Janet Jones-Duffey, a student in San Antonio, Texas. This art was provided through the National PTA Reflections Program, an arts recognition and achievement program for students in preschool through grade 12 in literature, musical composition, photography, and visual arts. Graphics for the overall publication were coordinated by ZGS Communications, Inc., of Arlington, Virginia.