The Barbara Bush Fellows at TCALL
2008-2009 Academic Year
Executive Summary
Prepared by
Dr. Mary V. Alfred,
Marla Rea, Renata Russo, Megan Terry,
Harriet Vardiman Smith, and Peggy Sue Durbin
Department of Educational Administration & Human Resource Development
College of Education & Human Development
Texas A&M University
July 31, 2009
The Barbara Bush Fellowships consist of one-time, one-year awards to doctoral students conducting research in the area of Family Literacy. The three fellows chosen last year from Texas A&M University’s College of Education were Marla Rea and Megan Terry from the Department of Educational Psychology and Renata Russo from the Department of Educational Administration and Human Resource Development. Dr. Mary Alfred has served as research mentor for the fellows and has guided them through the completion of their projects and submission of papers for conference presentations. In addition, Megan and Marla’s academic advisors have also supported them through the research, making the connection between family literacy and their disciplinary program.
Fellows’ Progress: Scholarship and Academic Activities
To date, the fellows have completed their research projects with varying levels of sophistication. The fellows are required to make two conference presentations and, upon completion of their research, make attempts to publish the findings in peer-reviewed journals. Each of the recipients has had two presentations to include their NCFL presentation. They have all completed their research projects and have made individual and group conference presentations.
Marla Rea
Ms. Rea conducted research at two literacy programs in Texas on the acquisition of English literacy among U.S. immigrants in Texas. The purpose of her study was to explore the journey to English language literacy, the challenges parents and the children face during the process, and the role reversals that happen during the process and its impact on the children. During the year, Marla participated in several scholarly and academic activities. Overall, Marla continues to make excellent progress towards her doctoral studies, and she is using the knowledge and experiences acquired during the fellowship program to expand literacy programs in the community in her professional role as the director of English Language Literacy Programs with the local independent school district.
Renata Russo
Ms. Russo conducted a study entitled Persistence of Mexican Women in GED Classes. The study’s purpose was to examine how Mexican women in family literacy programs persist to obtain their GED certification. Renata found her workwith students, teachers, and administrators in two family literacy programs to be transformational. She wrote, “The courage and persistence of the women in the programs provided me with the motivation and encouragement I needed to continue with my doctoral degree. Through listening to their stories, it became clear that we all go through hardships in our lives. However, it is the way in which we chose to face them that determines how and if we are able to overcome the many barriers we find along the way.”
Megan Terry
In her second year as a Barbara Bush fellow, Ms. Terry continued developing an instrument to measure the home literacy environment. In collecting data, she visited several family literacy centers that were past and present recipients of the First Lady’s Family Literacy Initiative for Texas grant. Megan is currently developing a parent-child shared book reading intervention for her dissertation to be conducted throughout the 2009-2010 school year with Head Start families. The study will explore the potential additive effects of incorporating parental “nurturance training” into training parents in empirically-supported shared reading techniques (dialogic reading). In her fellowship exit evaluation, Megan wrote, “This fellowship has provided me invaluable research experience. Through research experiences, especially at professional conferences, as well as working with multiple family literacy program directors, I feel I have gained important professional skills. Family literacy is an ideal field to translate research into practice and I am fortunate that my project allowed me to interact closely with the people that make these programs so successful.”
Of the three fellows for the 2008-2009 academic year, Megan was further along in her academic program, and her work has gone beyond that of a novice to that of one who is nearing the end of her studies and ready to embark into a professional career.
Conclusion
The Barbara Bush Fellowship at TCALL is having a significant impact in raising interest in the area of adult and family literacy at Texas A&M University. This is of significance because as Renata Russo’s and Marla Rea’s research indicate, Texas is rapidly becoming a minority majority state with a high population of speakers of languages other than English. With its high percentage of immigrants, predominantly from Mexico, there is a dire need to develop professionals who would engage in research and practice of adult literacy education. Moreover, over 50% of the Mexican immigrants who migrate to Texas lack a high school diploma, meaning that they are not literate in their home language or in the English language. These low literate adults parent children who have a strong potential of growing up illiterate unless intervention efforts are put in place to combat the problem at its core—and family literacy initiatives hold promise for addressing the phenomenon of illiteracy in adults and children. The emerging scholars who participated in the program have professional interests in becoming a part of the solution. While their research, for the most part, may not be very sophisticated at this time, they hold a strong commitment to the cause of combating adult and family illiteracy.
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