Excerpts from Reflective Journals | Excerpts from Literature | References

The process of gathering participants for classes is often one of the largest hurdles to overcome at first. Once a class is underway, students will often unknowingly recruit by word of mouth to their friends and family. Use as many resources as are available to you to publicize and invite participation in your class or program. Often, follow-up is also needed with any form of recruiting.

Excerpts from Reflective Journals

• March 12th, 2002 (Wave I) – “As I talked with Amy beforehand she mentioned again how, with many of their classes, it has taken a few run-throughs (word of mouth, etc) to get the attendance up there to a better level. She also said she could give me a list of all the Spanish-speaking parents in the school, and invite them one by one to participate in the class. I would love to have more people; my only qualm at this time is…how would we catch them up? What would I do with them to get them ‘up to speed’ so to speak?”
• April 9th, 2002 (for Wave II) – “Before our class began I went into the two ESL classes that run Tuesday through Thursday, 6–8PM, and introduced myself. I briefly explained the PACT class and invited all interested to come next Tuesday (and sign up on a sheet I passed to everyone). We’ll see how it goes!!!!!”
• May 30th, 2002 (Wave II) – “We had another delightful class, with a surprise new student. Finally…with only two (technically) classes left, the word is spreading. Yet, this excited me to no end because I knew she was a mother of children who attended Wood's End, and she was there with a friend in our class. That means they have been talking about this outside of class—YES!”

Excerpts from Literature

• Auerbach, 1990, “There needs to be both targeted recruitment and some self-selection by students. Advertising as a family literacy class may not attract students; personal (bilingual) contact is important. Once potential participants have been identified… they should be given the option of joining a family literacy class as well as information on which to base their choice… Since the term family literacy may be unfamiliar, students should be asked if they would like to join a class which focuses on their concerns about their children’s reading, schoolwork, and schooling as well as other issues of concern to them” (p. 81).
• Paratore, 1994, “The process of recruitment taught us two important lessons. First, the inclusion of the full range of community agencies was necessary to achieve widespread interest and participation… Second, we learned that building a stable population takes time. It took several weeks and a great deal of networking to recruit the initial 16 families, and then several more weeks and several more meetings with community leaders to build beyond that initial enrollment” (p. 196).
• Somerfield, 1995, “Positive ‘word of mouth’ resulting from a program that met and expanded participant goals proved to be by far the most effective recruitment strategy” (p. 192).
• Schwartz, 1999, “Recruitment strategies that reflect cultural diversity and local norms, stress personal contact, and use former program participants are most effective. Distribution of informational materials and publicity in local businesses and centers increases awareness of the program. Active support from community and religious leaders is an important recommendation for wary families” (p. 2).
• Paratore, 2001, “After the initial start-up, the recruiting process changed. Our best recruiters became the parents who participated. Classes grew as parents brought their friends and family members. In several cases, we have enrolled the mother, the father, and a grandparent from a single family” (p. 32).

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