Contacts with family literacy stakeholders will be made by mail, the Internet, telephone and personal visits. Participants will be asked a series of questions intended to do one or more of the following:

• clarify the nature of the program or activity,
• show how family literacy is understood or framed within the program,
• describe how family literacy programs have been developed, delivered and evaluated, and
• provide insight into the impact of particular programs and practices.

6. Who is sponsoring the research?

In 2007 the Saskatchewan Literacy Commission provided the McDowell Foundation with $10,000 to explore the need for family literacy research in Saskatchewan. The Foundation invited a wide range of stakeholders to an Early and Family Literacy Forum who confirmed the value of collaborative research into what is happening and what really matters in family literacy in Saskatchewan. K-12 teachers, school administrators, school division consultants, literacy facilitators, librarians, regional college literacy coordinators, community and provincial literacy agency representatives who attended the forum, an interorganizational research panel was put together to submit a research proposal to the Literacy Commission for a two-phase project.

The Commission has now provided a further $30,000 to carry out the first phase of the project in 2008. The interorganizational Family Literacy Research Panel has remained in place to provide guidance in each part of the research process. Coordinating the project on behalf of the interorganizational group is the Dr. Stirling McDowell Foundation for Research into Teaching, a charitable organization established by the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation to support research into teaching and learning.

7. Who will be carrying out the research?

The McDowell Foundation has contracted with Dr. Linda Wason-Ellam, College of Education, University of Saskatchewan, to design and implement the research with guidance from an interorganizational Family Literacy Research Panel. Dr. Wason-Ellam has an impressive record of research in the areas of reading and literacy. She has received numerous grants and authored scholarly and community publications, bringing immigrant, inner-city, Aboriginal and global perspectives to develop greater understanding of the social worlds of children.

Working with Dr. Wason-Ellam on the research project are graduate students from the University of Saskatchewan.