Middle and High School Development Programs for Hispanic Parents



College Awareness Program



Middle & High

parent involvement programs for high school
bilingual college awareness programs

“The parents and students are really engaged and are asking lots of questions about college. It’s so wonderful to see!”

– Maria Dalia Ponce, Migrant Education Specialist

This effective interactive parent-child program is designed to build early college awareness by exploring the cultural and familial situations that arise within Latino families. By telling the story of one family’s journey from middle school to college, Graciela’s Dream introduces families to the college-going process and demonstrates how to turn the dream of college into a reality. This language-accessible college planner incorporates cultural and learning-style differences in order to involve families in the college-application process. Graciela’s Dream helps place underserved students and their families into the “college information loop.”

The program includes an engaging chapter book (in both English and Spanish) with illustrations and an interactive parent- student journal that introduces key educational terms. A step-by-step Teacher’s Guide with English As A Second Language curriculum is also included. Parents and their middle or high school kids will meet once a week for 6 sessions to read the chapter book and learn about how to prepare for college. They will be provided with a journal activity that will help them to discuss their concerns and understand better the process of preparing for college while developing English-language skills.





Sample: Graciela’s Dream: One Family’s Journey to College

Listen Chapter 5 Audio – English




Sample: Graciela’s Dream: One Family’s Journey to College

Listen Chapter 5 Audio – Spanish