The contribution of the family involvement program to elementary reading and writing skills

The aim of the research is to develop a family involvement program for elementary reading and writing teaching, to explain its reflection to partners and to determine its effect on reading and writing skills; It was carried out in a multi-staged mixed design. In the first phase of the preliminary stage of the research, which consists of two stages, the needs regarding family involvement were determined and a list of objectives was created. In this regard, it became clear that the program should comprise the dimensions of a) home-based involvement activities, b) family education meetings and c) classroom-based involvement process. In the second stage, the drafted dimensions were developed and tested in a public elementary school. At the end of the implementation, the dimensions were finalized; in this direction, 35 different home-based participation activities and six family training sessions emerged, and it was decided that the classroom-based involvement process would focus on the stages of feeling and recognizing sounds and writing and reading letters. In the following year, the involvement program was implemented and evaluated within the scope of the evaluative case study and posttest control group experimental design in the main stage of the research. In the shadow of the Covid-19 epidemic, 11 students and their families participated in the implementation held in a public elementary school. The data of the implementation were collected with the Phonological Awareness Scale, open-ended surveys, Family Views Rubric on the Involvement Process, Writing Skills Evaluation Rubric, Reading Skills Evaluation Form, semi-structured interviews, field notes and researcher diaries. In conclusion, it has been revealed that the development of the involvement program based on needs and scientific means, its implementation in planned-systematic ways and the reinforcement of what has been learned in this way are valued by the partners. The program prevented common misconceptions by providing families with information about the process. Families who empathized with their children and teachers, discovered their children's performance and needs and set realistic expectations. Children who felt that they cannot overcome difficulties alone were more motivated to read and write. It was observed that the family involvement program was effective in improving reading skills, but did not affect writing skills statistically.