The Significant Others as Reading Teachers (the SORT) project is an on-going project. Over the years many studies have been conducted within the context of this project by the authors. The findings of those studies have been published elsewhere in the form of articles, reports and books. The current round of research activities of the SORT program focuses on what parents do to help their children to read better. Based on the selective review of research and the hypotheses presented later in this paper, in the current study the authors tried to investigate four things: (1) the background of the parents and their involvement with their children's reading, (2) what parents do to help their children read well, (3) why they are involved the way they are, and (4) parents' perceptions of the SORT program and its accompanying resources as an opportunity for them to learn about and get involved in their children's reading education. However, in this paper we present only the findings related to fathers' involvement in their children's reading program. The findings of involvement of mothers in their children's reading as well as other findings will be reported in a series of other short papers; the final report would include all the findings.

For the sake of orderly presentation of the material, the authors provide below a brief review of literature on fathers' involvement with their children's schooling, the history of the SORT project, a conceptualization of parents' involvement with reading of their children within the SORT project, the nature of the investigation and methodology, findings of the study, and recommendations.

A BRIEF REVIEW

There has been an increasing interest in the father's interactions with their children and its effects on their development. In the past few years, several books and research articles on father's roles and relationships have appeared (Minnesota Extension Service, 1992). Specifically, the role of fathers in their children's education has been examined in recent years. Fathers have in the past been overlooked in research, but in 1995 U.S. President Clinton asked all executive departments to include fathers in their programs, policies and research, where possible (U.S. Department of Education, 1997).

One of the more prominent reports in this area is a study carried out by the National Center for Education Statistics in the United States. Their October 1997 Survey, Fathers' Involvement in Their Children's Schools, found that children do better in school when their fathers are involved in their schools, whether their fathers live with them or whether or not their mothers are also involved (U.S. Department of Education, 1997).

The national study garnered enough attention to have U.S. Vice President Al Gore highlight it by commenting on it to the media. He said, "This study provides hard evidence about the powerful and positive influence that parents can have as full and equal partners when they make the commitment to help their children get a good education. Fathers matter a great deal when it comes to helping their children succeed in school and this study should encourage millions of American fathers to step up to the plate and make a difference in their children's education." (U.S. Department of Education, 1997, p. 1)

The study also concluded that if dads got as involved as moms in their children's education, children would be studying harder and getting a lot more A's. Fathers make a powerful difference in defining expectation and challenging children to do their best. Overall, children in two-parent families where the father is highly involved get better grades, enjoy school more and are less likely to repeat a grade, compared with those for whom mothers only are highly involved (U.S. Department of Education, 1997). This general perspective on the impact of father's participation in children's education provided inputs for researchers to produce "local knowledge" in this area (Singh, et. al., 1999a; Singh, et. al., 1999b).

THE SORT PROJECT, THE FOCUS ON FATHERS' INVOLVEMENT, AND THE FINDINGS

History of the SORT Project

Significant Others as Reading Teachers (SORT) is a family/community literacy program for young children. Its purpose is to help establish literacy activities as a cultural practice within the context of everyday living. The program has been operating in a rural Newfoundland community since September, 1994. Seventy-seven parents/significant others and kindergarten children participated. A volunteer teacher, who received the support of the primary school principal and the local school board, delivered the program during the school year 1994-95. The program received funding from the National Literacy Secretariat in 1991 for the development of the program in 1995 for implementation and again in 2000-2002 for the present study of reasons why parents become involved in the literacy education of their children.

To date materials developed for the program include a videotape, Reading, A Gift of a Lifetime, and a handbook for children's significant others entitled Help Your Child Become a Reader and a facilitator's guide for helping parents implement and apply the year-long program. A kit of children's books, which includes 100 copies of 100 titles, has also been prepared to accompany these materials. The videotape, which features home and school literary practices in local settings, received a national award of merit in 1994 by the Association of Media Technology in Education in Canada (AMTEC) for its educational effectiveness.

The Principles of SORT

1. Learning to read is a highly complex task.
   (i) As early as six months of age, children can engage with significant others in reading activities and read-aloud.
   (ii) Significant growth in children's knowledge about reading can occur between the ages of three and five.
   (iii) Most children learn to read over a period of four or more years.
   
2. The purpose and value given to literacy activities in families and communities contribute to the significance children attribute to learning to read and write.
3. The single most important activity for building children's knowledge about skill in reading is reading aloud to them.
4. Messages that significant others give in their daily interactions with children, books and print, influence children's perceptions of themselves as readers.
5. Children model the reading behaviours enjoyed and demonstrated by significant others, especially behaviours of the same-sex others.
6. Children learn to enjoy story and book language when it is read aloud expressively by caring adults.
7. Children who develop positive images of themselves as readers engage readily in reading play and activities.
8. In listening to stories children try to understand the actions and feelings of characters in terms of their own experience.
9. Children construct their own knowledge of reading. As they become capable they need to be given more control over their reading activities.
10. Children who have been read to in homes and communities enter school with longer attention spans, have greater knowledge of stories, vocabulary, books and print, and experience less difficulties in learning to read.

Essentially, the approach taken recognizes that children learn literate attitudes, concepts and behaviours from people who are significant to them. As well, literacy learning that occurs before schooling has significant effects on children's literacy achievement when they go to school. The SORT program has demonstrated that parents and significant others will engage willingly in literacy activities with young children when they realize the potential benefit to their children's literacy learning. They will also hold high expectations for their children's literacy achievement and will provide supportive responses when they become aware of its significance to learning and learn how to become involved. The materials currently developed for the SORT program are designed to create conditions in which significant others become involved in daily book-sharing activities with children.

The video, Reading, A Gift of a Lifetime, shows a variety of family and social gatherings where children share reading and writing with others. The handbook, Help Your Child Become a Reader, is written in a conversational question/answer style at a grade 8 reading level and includes a discussion of:

• how social interaction can help children develop a 'reader identity' and a positive attitude towards reading, conceptual knowledge of and skill in reading;
• how to find books to match children's reading development and interests;
• a variety of children's books and activities that encourage reading for imaginative, informative, affective, persuasive, and ritualistic purposes;
• * word and letter games for young children to learn how to identify words in print.

The SORT project takes a perspective that the most effective approach to stimulate and motivate young children's literacy development is to build books into conversations between children and the adults whom they care about and think are important. The specific books chosen to support the child's learning and interest, and the daily interactions around books on a daily basis, are important features of this program as well as the manner in which adults respond to a child's questions. The learning environment needs to be one where children can risk being wrong, receive appropriate feedback and can develop self-esteem. Their motivation to learn results from their expectations that they will learn, their past successes, feelings of self-control, including help-seeking strategies, as well as from their intrinsic interest in reading materials and the desire to be readers like their significant others.

Conceptualizing Parents' Involvement Within the Sort Project

Among the many sources of influence on parents' decisions to become involved in their children's reading education, four important sources include:

• how parents construct their role with regard to their responsibility for teaching reading.
• their beliefs about how children learn to read.
• their sense of efficacy in helping children succeed in learning how to read.
• their perceptions of the opportunities for involvement presented by the school as well as their assessment of the quality and appropriateness of these opportunities. These opportunities include: personnel, programs, availability of reading and course materials, invitations and other such things.

Of course, other background variables are likely to influence parents' basic decisions to become involved in their children's learning to read, e.g., working schedules, age, educational levels, number of adults living with children and patterns of employment.

According to the perspective taken in this study, parents primarily become involved in their children's education because they have constructed a parental role that includes such involvement; secondly, because they have a positive sense of their own efficacy for helping their children succeed in reading; and, thirdly, because they perceive opportunities and invitations for involvement in their children's literacy education from their children's schools.

Parental Role Construction, Parental Involvement, Child Development Beliefs, Self-efficacy and Involvement Practices

An important factor contributing to parents' decisions to involve themselves in children's education and, in particular, with their children's literary learning, is their understanding of the parenting role. In other words, parents possess beliefs about what they are supposed to do in relation to their children learning to read. These beliefs about the parenting role are important to issues of involvement because they are the basis for establishing the range of activities parents consider to be necessary, important and permissible to engage in, with and on behalf of their children.

One implication of current theories and empirical observations about parental/involvement is the notion that parents develop beliefs and understandings about the requirements and expectations of the parental role as a result of their membership and participation in varied groups pertinent to child-rearing (e.g., families, workplaces, schools, churches, media, communities). Such groups hold expectations about the appropriateness of parental role behaviours, including those which are related to involvement with children's reading education. Further, parents' actions or practices with and on behalf of their children, including decisions to become involved educationally in their children's lives, are influenced by the roles they construct, and by the dynamic process that involves them in confronting the varied expectations held by various groups with whom they interact.

In this study the concept of role is defined as a set of expectations a group holds for the behaviour of its members, or a set of behaviours characteristic of individuals within a group. In this study those groups are referred to as parents' significant others. Parents' significant others include their children's teachers, the school principal, their own children, the family's priest or minister, the local media, and the SORT literacy coordinator. Parents' workplaces and the Faculty of Education at MUN where the SORT project originated, were not included in the current study as significant others influencing the parents' role construct, although in future studies they should be considered.

When the notion of role construction is applied to parents' choices to become involved in their children's literacy development, current theories state that the groups to which parents belong (family, school, workplace, church, friends) hold expectations about what parental role behaviours are appropriate for supporting children's development as readers. When these expectations are perceived to be of value by parents, they may influence the choice of behaviours they engage in on behalf of their children's reading education.

Parents' ideas about child development and how children learn to read and develop reading practices and their notions of the appropriate roles for supporting children's literacy education at home appear to constitute specific components of the parental role construct that influence parents' decisions about their involvement in their children's literacy learning. Findings in these areas have suggested a general pattern in which child-rearing beliefs exert an influence on parents' choice of behaviours they engage in with their children. For example, parents' endorsement of the belief that children's intelligence(s) is/are not fixed at birth is likely to be reflected in the manner in which they provide educational resources in children's environments to enhance their intellectual development. Fundamentally, the overall perspective presented here suggests that, among the aspects of parent role construction for responsibility in children's literacy learning, specific sets of beliefs are quite important. Included and important for literacy education are:

• their beliefs about what children need from parents in order to read.
• their beliefs about desirable educational outcomes in reading.
• their beliefs about the effectiveness of reading practices in achieving reading success.

In addition, parents' sense of efficacy for helping children learn to read is a factor in their decisions to become actively involved in their children's reading education. In other words, parents are likely to reflect on their ability to influence their children's reading ability before becoming involved with reading activities. Sometimes parents who want to increase their teaching skill and sense of efficacy might choose to enrol in programs designed to improve their ability to successfully contribute to their children's education.

The Investigation and Methodology

The larger SORT study attempted to explore and investigate the relationships among parents' role constructs, their self-efficacy in helping their children learn, their involvement practices in helping their children's learning to read, including the SORT program, and selected parental background variables. Measures of the many aspects of the parental role construct for their responsibility in children's reading education, as well as a measure of their self-efficacy, were developed as questionnaires. Additionally, the specific involvement practices for children's reading that parents engage in were listed in a questionnaire. A specific assessment for parents' involvement in SORT was included. Background variables including parental age, employment and housing patterns, educational levels were included in a survey questionnaire.

Researchers of role construction have assumed that a person's behaviour is related to his/her role construction definitions. When this idea is applied to parents' behaviour, research shows that the various ways parents get involved with their children's schools and homework are associated with how they construct their many parental roles vis-à-vis their children.

The Background of Parents

In addition to parental role construction, child development beliefs, self-efficacy and involvement practices, the larger SORT study also investigated the background of parents. It has been well established that such variables as parental income and educational levels are related to parental involvement in children's education and, in turn, to children's school achievements. In particular, studies have shown that the educational levels of parents are positively related to their ideas about child-raising practices and to their children's school success. The major focus in this study, however, has been on the variables which reflect what parents think about and do with and on behalf of their children's literacy education, and, specifically, in promoting their children's learning to read.

The Hypotheses

We hypothesized that the parents who would get involved with their children's reading would be those who already believed that, as parents, it is their role to help their children learn to read, and would be those parents who perceived that other people expected them to be involved in children's reading education. To become involved parents would also need to believe they can contribute to children's learning (self-efficacy) in the present, or in the future, by learning new techniques and skills to help their children learn to read through participation in such programs as the (SORT) program.

Findings

Fathers' Reading Involvement Practices as a Function of Their Parental Roles

Nowadays, many dads, in their role as parents, involve themselves in helping their children learn to read and establish good reading practices. This is a new and encouraging trend that reflects the changing role of fathers and mothers in the family unit since previously mothers were the parents more likely to have been involved with children's learning. However, before fathers can become involved in doing something to help their children learn to read, they need to construct the appropriate roles which encourage them to behave in specific ways towards their children. What fathers' conceive their parental roles to be with regard to their children's reading, is related to their engagement in many activities involving children and their reading.

In this study many fathers constructed their roles believing that their involvement in the SORT program would help them be more confident in their ability to help their children learn to read. These dads were trying to increase their efficacy in helping their children learn to read. They also said they encouraged their children to develop a reading habit of their own. Similarly, fathers who offered encouragement to their children to develop good habits, constructed two other roles for themselves. For example, they believed their parental role included a need to understand their children's schools and teachers, and that significant others in their lives expected them to encourage their children to develop a good reading habit. In particular, these Dads believed that significant others such as their children's teachers and the Co-ordinator of the SORT program expected them to help their children become skilled readers. When fathers perceived that these significant others expected them, as parents, to help their children read, then fathers got involved and engaged in listening to their children and, in particular, listened carefully to their children's questions about stories and print.

Parents can become involved with their children in many different ways. For example, results of our study indicated that fathers who thought it was their role to help their children read better were encouraging their children to read independently everyday. Specifically, these dads who encouraged their children to read independently everyday:

• expected to work hard to help their children with reading;
• believed that participation in SORT would help them to be more confident in their ability to help their children learn to read;
• perceived that teachers expected them to be involved in helping their children learn to read;
• perceived a need to understand their children's school and teachers.

As well, dads who involved themselves in making frequent trips with their

children to the library, thought that, in their roles as dads they:

• needed to understand their children's school and teachers;
• expected to help their children learn to read, and
• had friends who expected them to get involved in the SORT program.

Dads who were bent on involving themselves by providing their children with appropriate reading and writing materials constructed their various corresponding roles in many different ways. They:

• thought it was important for them to know how their children were progressing in reading;
• believed in working hard to help their children in reading;
• thought that parents and teachers were partners in helping children to read,

and

• believed that the home was responsible for children's learning to read, although reading was 'best' left to teachers. These Dads also perceived that the SORT literacy coordinator expected them to be involved. Overall, the greater the parental responsibility Dads assumed for reading, the more they were involved with reading acts on behalf of children.

• it was important that they should hold positive expectations for their children to learn to read;
• that they should know how their children were progressing in reading. One Dad commented, "We are very involved. Being involved gives us the chance to be aware of their progress, which brings a feeling of closeness with your child."

Similarly, those Dads who made the major commitment of expecting themselves to work 'hard' to help their children with reading, believed that it was equally as important for 'them', as it was for their children's mothers, to help their child learn to read. Generally, the cultural norm seems to be that mothers are the ones who are most involved with child-raising, including caring for children's personal needs, school-related activities and homework. The fact that some fathers are getting more involved in their children's schooling may be seen as a good trend from various perspectives. For example, work surrounding 'raising children,' 'parenting', or 'nurturing', can be delivered by both fathers and mothers. This way of thinking contradicts the assumption that only females can play this role. To be sure, this role construction on the part of the fathers does not happen in isolation. Significant others seem to play crucial roles in the development of this aspect of parental role formation for fathers. For example, dads who took an interest in their children's school work and activities in reading perceived that their friends expected them to get involved in the SORT program. Overall, their friends' expectations, when combined with other factors, helped dads to construct their overall parental role in such a way that they started taking an interest in their children's reading school work and activities.

Looking further into dads' involvement, it was found that some dads became involved deeply by talking with their children about what they were reading at schools, looking at materials brought home from school and helping with and/or reviewing home assignments in reading. These fathers seem to construct their roles believing:

• they were responsible for helping children to read,
• that it was important for them to know how their children were progressing in reading, and
• that it was as equally important for them to help their children learn to read as it was for their children's mothers. This deep involvement seems to be understandable in the context of changing parental roles in family structures.

Parents can help children in school homework and reading in many ways at home. For example, they can provide appropriate materials and appropriate spaces for children to study and work, along with timely meals, and praise to boost their children's self-esteem. In this study those dads who designated a workplace for their children and identified a specific time each day when homework would be completed, constructed their roles based on specific beliefs. They:

• expected to help their children with reading,
• thought it was important for them to know how their children were progressing in reading,
• expected to work 'hard' to help their children with reading,

and

• believed that the home is responsible for children's learning to read.

Fathers' participation in communicating with their children's teachers seems due to their overall perceived parental responsibility for children's learning to read and their perceived expectations from significant others. Specifically, fathers who were involved with their children's reading by communicating with their reading teachers through notes, phone calls and visits, constructed their parental roles by taking into account various beliefs. These dads:

• expected to help their children learn to read and to work 'hard' doing this,
• perceived that their children's teachers, school principal, and their friends all expected them to be involved in helping their children to read.

Some fathers constructed particular role responsibilities for their children's unique learning patterns in reading. A desire to help children learn to read based on the child's emerging pattern of strengths and weaknesses requires a major commitment of time, effort, ability and attention. The data suggested the desire to help their children on the basis of their strengths and weakness in reading is associated with various role constructions by dads. Those dads who said they were aware of their children's strengths and weakness:

• expected to help their children learn to read and to work 'hard' at this,
• believed they should know how their children are progressing in reading,
• believed the home is responsible for children's learning to read,
• believed that the teachers, principal and the SORT literacy coordinator expected them to be involved in helping their children learn to read.

Although these dads were committed to a high level of responsibility and involvement with their children, they nevertheless deferred to the school's expertise, since they believed that they sent their children to school and hoped for the best when it came to reading. It appears that when fathers have a high level of awareness of their children's patterns in learning to read it is a result of how, they have constructed their parental role, taking into account the total expectation of how significant others expect them to participate in their children's bid to succeed in reading.

Another way dads can get involved with their children is reading is through play activities. Dads who played games that helped their children read, and/or write and spell perceived:

• it was their role to help their children learn to read;
• that their friends expected them to be involved with SORT.

This type of involvement seems to emphasize fun in learning, an overall emphasis on the father/child relationship and on learning as a social activity.

Dads who said were sensitive in trying to relate what children read about to their children's lives defined their roles by saying that it was important for them to help children learn to read. Overall, Dads who perceived more parental responsibility for their children's reading tried harder to relate what they read about to their children's own lives.

Dads who took the initiative to involve their children to engage in literacy tasks at home, such as writing grocery lists, making cards, reading menus, and newspapers, writing letters, and engaging in activities, constructed their corresponding roles in many different ways. Fathers' asking children to do the above things was related to fathers' belief that:

• home is responsible for children's learning to read;
• the teachers expected them to get involved in helping their children read;
• their own children, expected them to be involved in the SORT program.

Interestingly, dads who took an interest in their child's reading by the specific practice of providing a dictionary to them, constructed their roles to this in many different ways. They believed:

• that it was important for them to know how their children were progressing in reading;
• that home was responsible for children's learning to read;
• that the SORT program would help them to be more confident in their ability to help them learn to read;
• that they expected to work hard to help their children with reading;
• that teachers expected them to get involved in helping them learn to read.

Perhaps, for these Dads a tangible way of helping their children learn to read is to provide a dictionary for their children. Historically, the dictionary has played an important role in fixing the meanings of words in literary cultures; it has been seen as an authoritative way of determining the meaning of words. Fathers' who constructed more parental role responsibility for helping their children learn to read are more likely to pay attention to their children's reading by providing them with dictionaries.

On the other hand, Dads who bought books as presents for their children constructed their corresponding roles by saying only that:

• they believed reading is best left to teachers;
• they sent their children to school and hoped for the best when it came to reading.

Again, it seems that fathers who construct their roles in this way are willing to play a minor supportive role in their children's learning to read. Schools and teachers are still believed to be the major players in helping their children learn to read. This is not surprising because schools and teachers have always been seen as a solution for many problems in most societies, and especially have been deferred to for the establishment and/or control of children's literacy skills.

Dads who visited places such as parks, museums, and local landmarks with their children conceptualized their roles by saying that they believed reading is best left to teachers. In other words, these dads were willing to participate in providing life experiences relevant for their children learning, but basically thought it was the teacher's responsibility to help children learn how to read. Dads who reasoned this way were also the ones who said they provided exposure to activities and experiences to broaden their children's understanding of the world around them.

One specific way in which dads were involved with their children was by monitoring the time their children spent watching television programs. This activity requires constant vigilance and, therefore, considerable commitment from parents to monitor their children. Fathers who were involved in this particular way, constructed many different aspects to their roles. They:

• set up expectations for themselves that as dads they should help their children learn to read;
• thought they should work hard to help their children with reading;
• thought it was important for them to know how their children are progressing in reading;
• believed that parents and teachers are partners in helping children learn to read.

These roles seem to be reinforced through fathers' perceptions that their friends expected them to be involved in the SORT program and the expectation of their significant others had encouraged them to construct their roles in this way.

Dads who involved themselves with their children in a sensitive teaching manner by trying to answer their questions in a manner that their children could understand constructed their parental responsibility for children's reading in many different ways. They:

• thought it was important for them to know how their children were progressing in reading;
• believed that parents and teachers are partners in helping children learn to read;
• thought that the home is responsible for children's learning to read;
• believed that dads have to work hard to help their children with reading;
• needed to understand their children's school and teachers.

Many dads are involved with their children through modeling and made sure that their children see them reading. Dads who were more aware of providing this opportunity for their children, had constructed their roles in different ways. For example, they had set up certain expectations for themselves. They said:

• they expected to help their children learn to read;
• that it was important for them to know their children were progressing in reading;
• that they needed, as parents, to understand their children's school and teachers. These dads believed that the overall expectations they have for themselves as dads, the expectations of all significant others, including their children's expectations for them to get involved in SORT, made them aware that their children should get the opportunity to see them reading books and other materials.

Many dads who are involved with their children by encouraging others to read to or around their children:

• expected to help their children to learn to read;
• thought it was important for them to know how their children progress in reading;
• perceived that their children expected them to be involved in the SORT program.

Father's Child-development Beliefs and Involvement Practices

When Dads believe that teachers need information from home to help their children learn to read, they engage in listening carefully to children's questions, provide exposure to activities and experiences to broaden children's understanding of the world around them and provide their children with a dictionary. When dads believe that children learn to read better when parents and teachers respect their curiosity and questions about stories, print and reading, they are more engaged in carefully listening to their children's questions, providing answers that children can understand, playing games that help their children read and/or write. When dads believe that children need encouragement in order to learn to read well, they try to answer children questions in a manner children can understand.

Fathers' Self-efficacy and Child-development Beliefs

The child-development beliefs that fathers hold for promoting children's reading education, e.g., respecting children's questions, monitoring time with TV. and providing encouragement, go hand-in-hand with their sense of efficacy in helping their children read. In particular, when fathers possessed a greater sense of self-efficacy for helping their children learn to read, the more they believed firmly that:

• parents can influence children's learning to read,
• children need encouragement in order to learn to read well,
• parents and teachers should respect children's curiosity and questions about stories, print and reading, and that
• children should limit the time spent watching television in order to spend that time learning to read well.

Father's Personal Theories of Intelligence

Fathers' beliefs about children's intelligence(s) went hand-in-hand with certain beliefs about the value of children's questions. Specifically, when fathers believed that children's intelligence(s) is open to development from the environment, or when they believed that children possess many kinds of intelligences (e.g., musical, mathematical and verbal), they also believed that parents and teachers need to respect children's curiosity and the questions they pose about stories, print and reading.

Parents were invited to respond to an open-ended questionnaire in which they were asked to name ten reasons for becoming involved in the SORT program for the year in which their child was enrolled in Kindergarten. The reasons are ranked in the order of importance that fathers attributed to them.

1. A desire to help children become better readers.
2. The SORT program materials and children's books were of high quality.
3. The fostering of children's love of reading as a fun activity.
4. The excellent evaluation of the literacy co-ordinator who delivered the program.
5. The opportunity to learn new techniques to help children read.
6. The improvement of relationships with their children by spending quality time with them.
7. The fostering of children's motivation to read.
8. The school's endorsement and recommendation of SORT as a program promoting parents' interests.
9. The enhancement of the relationship between home and school that SORT fostered.
10. The SORT program was free and a 'good thing'.

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Dr. Joan Oldford-Matchim jmatchim@mun.ca is the Director The SORT Project

Dr. Amarjit Singh asingh@mun.ca is a Research Associate, The SORT Project.