Assistors to continuous enrollment for women in Texas Even Start Family Literacy programs

Abstract

A quantitative and qualitative research study was conducted to discover what assistors promoted continuous enrollment of women in Texas Even Start Family Literacy programs. 270 women who were enrolled for a second program year or longer anonymously completed a questionnaire that was available in both Spanish and English. Statements regarding which assistors promoted their continuous participation along with demographic statements were included in the questionnaire; free response comments were requested as well. Statistical measurements of factor analysis, frequency response, Chi-Square, and Analysis of Variance were used. Compared to previous research (Quigley, 1997) that identified three categories of barriers, this research identified five categories of assistors: situational, institutional, dispositional, parental, and program specific. Parental assistors, as a group, were statistically significant more than any of the other assistors when measured according to the independent variables of participants' age, children's age, and enrollment level. Institutional and dispositional assistors were found statistically significant when measured according to the variable of participants' age. Post-hoc measures did not reveal statistical significance for any of the levels of the variables. However, free responses from the participants did provide insight as to why parental, institutional, and dispositional assistors were significant in both their lives and the lives of their children.