A Five-Year University Collaboration Evaluation

After a five-year project funded by the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) and in collaboration with the University of North Texas (UNT), The Latino Family Literacy Project learned from university-led evaluations and research that the program had a substantial, very effective, and lasting impact on the 150 Spanish-speaking families who were part of the initiative. “Project Success” was a DOE … Read More

Parent and Family Engagement and ESSA

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), is a reauthorization of the educational standards set forth through the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) in 1965. The ESSA puts into place provisions aimed at helping low-income and underprivileged children succeed in school and chief among this legislative groundwork is a sharp focus on the role of parent and family engagement in … Read More

Multicultural Books for Parent and Family Engagement at School

Literacy begins in the home and transfers from parent to child. Parents who begin to read to their children from a very young age make great strides in the child’s educational and social evolution later on. Reading to a child pro­motes successful outcomes for lit­eracy even before they start their first day of kindergarten. This is true for families of … Read More

3 School Readiness Books for Young Students

Reading with young students who are English Learners (ELs) entering kindergarten is necessary because it sparks their desire to learn. Reading helps to ease the transition from preschool to kindergarten because ELs feel that they are learning and preparing to do well in school. It is important to choose books that young kids can relate to, as books that their … Read More

Building Oral Language Skills with ELs

Oral language skills are of utmost importance for all children, but are particularly important for English Learners (ELs) to master, as they form the foundation for literacy development.  Research indicates that oral language skills include grammar, vocabulary, phonology, morphology, discourse, and pragmatics.  Some ELs struggle with pragmatics, while other ELs have greater difficulty developing vocabulary and learning proper grammar.  That … Read More

Training for Parent & Family Engagement

Training for Parent & Family Engagement is provided by The Latino Family Literacy Project, a White House BRIGHT SPOT in Educational Excellence with Hispanics and a recent winner of Promising Practices at the Statewide Texas Parent & Family Engagement Conference. Educators receive a culturally relevant framework and books and materials for the best parent program for English learners in the … Read More

Spanish Books for Teaching Spanish to Elementary Kids

Why Spanish books for kids? In our global economy being bilingual or multilingual is advantageous. Teaching kids Spanish while they’re young will provide them with many benefits and skills for the future, such as literacy and cognitive skills. With the proper instruction and guidance, kids can learn a second language with ease and a more natural, native pronunciation. Here are 5 … Read More

5 Non-fiction Bilingual Spanish Leveled Readers

Non-fiction leveled readers are a great classroom asset as they help students become independent readers.  Leveled readers are books that come in various levels of difficulty, which increases as the children’s literacy skills increase.  As students build their literacy skills they gain confidence in themselves, as well as language fluency and comprehension.  Lectura Books offers a comprehensive collection of non-fiction … Read More

The Myths of Learning Two (or more) Languages

The United States is home to a diverse population.  Approximately 20% of children living in the United States speak another language, besides English, at home.  Most often, these children speak Spanish. Research demonstrates benefits of being bilingual, despite some negative myths that are floating around.  Learning two languages helps children maintain strong bonds with their family, culture, and community members. … Read More

Reading Fluency for English Learners

Reading fluency is something that most, if not all, English learners strive to achieve.  Reading fluency oftentimes takes many years to achieve because fluent readers reach a level of accuracy in which they no longer have to slow down or re-read a word or phrase in order to understand or decode it.  Rather, fluent readers can simply place all of … Read More