Districts Success Stories of Development for Title I and Title III Programs Latino Family Literacy



Title I and Title III


Success Stories



Districts’ Stories

bilingual reading programs for parent involvement
“The books are lovely. Parents can connect to every one of them!”

-Maria A. Magill, Program Director, Children’s and Family Services, Riverside County, CA

“The books are lovely. Parents can connect to every one of them. “

-Maria A. Magill, Program Director, Children’s and Family Services, Riverside County, CA




What districts are saying…



Venus ISD
Latino Family Literacy Project Makes a Difference
The Latino Family Literacy Project provides training in family reading for Hispanic parent involvement, vocabulary development, and English-language development for parents and their children. The program is led on the Venus Primary Campus by kindergarten teacher, Melisa Ruiz. Read More

Renton School District in Renton, Washington
Benson Hill Elementary School families recently graduated from the school’s Latino Family Literacy Project, a program that helps family members be better prepared to help children read at home, and engage families in education.
Families in the program worked together with school staff to engage in reading strategies to use at home, together as a family. Literacy strategies were also used to improve family members’ first and second languages. All of the work proved to have a positive impact on children. Read More

Marshall ISD in Marshall, Texas
Mrs. Zaragoza, Mrs. Collazo and Mrs. Avelar have been leading the Latino Family Literacy program at South Marshall STEM Academy. The program is brought in from the Marshall ISD Bilingual/ESL Department. The literacy program is designed to establish family reading routines for Spanish-speaking and English-speaking parents and their children at their school site. It involves family reading for Hispanic parent involvement, vocabulary development and English language development for parents and their children.
The program engages the parents in reading with their children, reflects the experiences of Latino families, and is centered around universal themes. The program will be expanding soon to Marshall High School. Read More

Newburgh Enlarged City School District
This program was an initiative of the district’s Family and Community Engagement and Curriculum and Instruction offices. Parents that participated sacrificed their Saturday’s and week nights over a ten week period in order to learn literacy strategies and best practices in both English and Spanish, in order to better support their scholars at home. Read More

Mesquite ISD
“Through this program, Mr. Espinoza supports Hispanic parents in their endeavor to become educational partners with their children’s teachers. The program focuses on reading together as a family, parental involvement, vocabulary development and English language skills.”

Alvin ISD

Duncanville ISD, Education for the Entire Family
“Acton’s program is part of the national Latino Family Literacy Project, aimed at building a regular family reading routine and developing strong English-language skills. For the past two years, the school has invited parents to attend Wednesday night classes. Second grade bilingual teacher Mary Goodier (pictured above, middle) was the program’s coordinator for the 2011-12 year. “I love the literature that goes along with the program,” she said. “My parents are from Mexico, so I feel a connection with the participants. I also want to help my students by helping their parents.” Read More

Montgomery ISD
MISD Latino Family Literacy Project

Times-Review 10/15/15, Cleburne, TX
“We believe the partnership between the home and the school is an important part of each student’s success,” said Bret Jimerson, the Superintendent for Burleson. “The Latino Family Literacy Project offers us a way to continue this initiative.”

District 15’s Latino Family Literacy Project helps parents emphasize reading’s importance
Earlier in the fall of 2012, a group of Latino students’ parents—some with their children in tow—showed up after hours at several District 15 schools. They weren’t there for an extracurricular activity or for disciplinary reasons. They were there to learn. They were there to participate in the District’s new Latino Family Literacy Project. “They wanted to learn how to help support their children in literacy,” said Dr. Cheryl Wolfel, District 15’s director of second language programs. “They wanted to know how to support their children in becoming better readers. They wanted to know how to motivate their children to read more.” Read More

Soledad USD
Soledad USD

Community Consolidated School District 15 – Palatine, IL

Dr. Cheryl Wolfel, Director of Second Language Programs, Community Consolidated School District 15 – “They (Latino parents) wanted to learn how to help support their children in literacy. They wanted to know how to support their children in becoming better readers. They wanted to know how to motivate their children to read more.”

“What we know is that many of our Latino parents have never had access to a literacy program designed specifically for the Latino family. So what we’re trying to do is encourage them to help their children make the most of these opportunities by stressing the importance of reading books and reflecting upon them and discussing them together, as a family.”


Deming Public Schools, Deming, New Mexico
Dr. Michael Chavez, Director of Bilingual Education Programs, Deming Public Schools – “It is a bilingual program that builds a bridge between Spanish and English with a focus on the sociocultural and linguistic components of literacy development. Parents are equipped with reading strategies to implement with their children at home making it a win-win process between the home and school.”

Coachella Valley, Coachella, CA
The Latino Family Literacy Program is to enhance family literacy for English and Spanish speaking families. The program is designed to be an educational experience which will encourage critical reflection, dialogue and incorporate reading, writing, and creative art projects. Parents attend 9 meeting where they share and read aloud with discussion of the monthly book related to the theme presented in the classroom.
PURPOSE: To enhance a family approach to reading
and create a reading environment center in each home.

Longview Independent School District, Longview, TX

The Latino Family Literacy Project™ is designed to establish family reading routines for Spanish- and English-speaking parents and their children. The Project introduces the teachers to a language acquisition method and a step-by-step literacy instruction process. It involves family reading, vocabulary development, and English-language development for Latino parents and their children.

Each of our age specific programs engages the parents in reading with their children, reflects the experiences of Latino families, and is centered around universal themes. All materials, books and curricula used are bilingual and in a simple format. This program can be used to teach English language
and Spanish language skills and has multilevel English language lessons to include new vocabulary, verb conjugation, grammar and structure, conversation and practice opportunities.

Each program has a built-in evaluation process to measure the success of what the parents learned in class and includes at home skill-based activities for parents and children that support the state standards for each specific age group.


Lamont Parent Center, Lamont, CA

The Latino Family Literacy Project™ is a reading project designed to build a regular reading routine and develop English language skills. During the series of classes, parents are taught strategies designed to develop the child’s literacy skills. These strategies fall into three basic categories: what to do “before reading,” what to do “during reading,” and what to do “after reading.”

During class, parents read a children’s book and practice the reading strategies. Then, they take the book home and put the strategies into practice as they read with their children. All the books are bilingual so that the parent reads the Spanish page and the child reads English page. The parents then share their reading experience as a class. As a final project, the parents create a family album and present it to the class during their last session.


Orangethorpe Elementary School, Fullerton School District, CA
On December 10, 2008, thirteen parents successfully completed a 10 week course on family literacy. The graduates were taught by Mrs. Lopez and Ms. Lujon. During the course, the parents were exposed to a wide variety of books they can read to their children, and how to foster in them an interest in reading. They also created a family album which was shared at the graduation ceremony and luncheon. This is an annual class and we encourage all parents to participate.

Thomas Jefferson Elementary School

Partnership School Award Winner 2009 dual language literacy programs for parent engagement

From the start, the Action Team for Partnerships (ATP) at Thomas Jefferson Elementary School faced a significant challenge. It wanted to encourage families of English Language Learning students—who make up about a quarter of the student population—to participate more frequently in school activities at school and at home. The ATP instituted a number of practices to reach out to these parents, even as it worked to welcome all families in the school. One activity, The Latino Family Literacy Project™, offers literacy classes for Spanish- and English- speaking parents, encourages a family reading routine, and works to improve students’ English and Spanish literacy skills.

The district’s Department of State and Federal Programs provided funding for training and materials for the project. The school’s family liaison—also a member of the school’s ATP— guided the practice and established a curriculum with lessons from the Project teacher’s manual and some of her own unique lessons. The school principal designated a room for a Family Center for classes and activities for parents and for storing materials. An ATP member provided translations at the class sessions. Teachers and other documents assessed this program noting more parents volunteering and taking classes on campus. In a targeted evaluation, the ATP found that the children of parents who participated in the Literacy Project performed consistently better over two years on the California English Language Development Test.


Linwood E. Howe Elementary School, CA
The Latino Family Literacy Project™ is a parent involvement and literacy program designed to establish and nurture family reading routines for bilingual families. The age-specific program engages parents in reading with their children, reflects the experiences of the Latino culture, and is anchored around universal themes. The program has an evaluation process to measure the benefits of what is being learned in class and includes homes activities that parents share with their children which are supported by the state standards for each grade group. Mrs. Claudia Benitez, our English Language Development Specialist has been meeting with parents on Wednesdays during January, February and March with the program culminating on March 24. We are proud to offer this program to our Linwood Howe parents.

Krum ISD, Krum, TX

As part of the First Lady’s Family Literacy Initiative for Texas grant, five Krum families recently participated in The Latino Family Literacy Project™ at the Krum Early Education Center. During the ten week class, families had the opportunity to study the latest bilingual books and learn tips on how to read at home with their children.

The main goal of the course was to establish a family reading routine. Kindergarten teacher Denise Burns introduced a new book each week and parents took the book home to read to their children. When class resumed the next week, the families discussed how their at-home reading went.

Each participant in the class made a family album and had the opportunity to think and write about their goals for their children. The parents discovered how special their children and families were and how important it is to maintain traditions in their home.

In a post-program questionnaire, the families were asked what they enjoyed most about the class. Ruth Vega commented, “I learned how to teach my kids and tell them about the books. I learned how to gain more patience with them when reading and loved being with Mrs. Burns. She helped me a lot.”.


Godley Elementary, Godley, TX
Godley Elementary recently hosted an 8 week Latino Family Literacy Project. Families of our English Language Learners were invited to come and participate in a program designed to enhance literacy and language skills of Latino children. The program included bilingual children’s books that reflected the lives and issues of Latino families. The group met once a week for 8 weeks during which they reflected on the children’s books through reading, dialogue, writing, and art projects. Instructors for the program were Cindy Travioli, ESL Director, and Hortencia Garcia, ESL Aide and translator. Babysitting was provided by the High School PALS program and Polly Lindsey. The program concluded with a fiesta. A new session is planned for this fall.

Santa Rita Union School District, Salinas, CA
The Latino Family Literacy Project™ teaches parents the importance of establishing a family reading routine with their children. It helps both parents and school age children learn English skills such as new vocabulary, verbs, grammar, and conversation. It teaches parents the skills they need to share literature and to be involved in the school-going process with their children.

San Juan Unified SD
San Juan Unified SDProgram helps parents pick up reading techniques for bilingual learners. An instructor read from a book in Spanish on Tuesday morning at and had her students repeat after her.
Next the teacher said phrases in English and had the students repeat those. But the students weren’t children; they were Cameron Ranch parents who are taking part in the school’s Latino Family Literacy Project. Read More

San Gabriel SD
San Juan Unified SDThere are many special opportunities to participate in your child’s education. Currently, through our Latino Parent Education Program, you can take the opportunity to participate in our classes held on Thursday mornings at 8:45 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. You will take home Spanish bilingual books to enjoy with your family, you will learn how to implement a regular reading routine at home, and you will have a chance to create a beautiful family album. Read More

Kings Canyon Unified SD
Winnebago Elementary School, District 15The Latino Family Literacy Project workshops combine training on parenting and leadership skills that empower parents to become vital contributors to their children’s academic success. Read More

Hanford SD
Winnebago Elementary School, District 15IN THE NEWS: Latino Family Literacy reinforces reading
“Since our children are learning English, they’d say they couldn’t read in Spanish. But their teachers let them know it okay to read in Spanish,” Colores said through translator Eric White Principal Sandra Aguilera. Read More

Hutto ISD in Hutto, Texas
Winnebago Elementary School, District 15Winnebago Elementary School, District 15Hutto ISD has adopted the Family Latino Literacy Project as a parental involvement program. This comprehensive parental involvement program provides culturally relevant and a linguistically enhancing guided approach to family reading. The program offers quality bilingual books (English/Spanish), English-language development, vocabulary review and an engaging curriculum to promote a focus on family literacy. The program encourages parents to read with their children to enhance their reading and language skills. Read More

Socorro, El Paso, TX – Success Video

Westwood Regional School District
February 2016 Spotlight:
Our five ESL teachers should be commended not only for helping their students learn to read, write, and speak English, but for helping to make sure that their students are successfully integrated into the culture of our community. This year Mrs. Astudillo, Mrs. LeParc, and an elementary Spanish instructor (Alaina Schinn) worked on a bilingual reading program for ESL parents called the Latino Family Literacy Project (https://www.latinoliteracy.com/). The goal of the project is to promote family literacy with our Spanish speaking families. One evening a week the teachers met with parents of ESL learners and read bilingual books with stories that are meant to be shared between parents and students. In past years the ESL instructors organized field trips for ESL students and provided computer literacy opportunities for ESL parents. Read More

Brooks-Quinn-Jones Elementary School, Nacogdoches ISD
“On October 1, Brooks-Quinn-Jones Elementary School kicked off their Latino Family Literacy Project, “BUÑUELOS AND BOOKS”. On September 15, the White House announced that The Latino Family Literacy Project is one of the Bright Spots in Excellence for Hispanic Education. It offers a culturally relevant and bilingual approach for parents to become involved with English- development, home family reading routines and college awareness. Latino Family Literacy Project was designed to help both parents and their children learn English and Spanish vocabulary, grammar, verbs and conversation by reading books that the entire family can enjoy. This method enabled parents to see how the languages were similar and different.” Read More

Winnebago Elementary School, District 15
Winnebago Elementary School, District 15

Northwest Independent School District

LFLP is a family reading program for the entire family. It uses books that are appropriate for reading levels grades 1-4 – depending on the literacy levels of the student. It teaches parents the importance of establishing a family reading routine with their children, how to share the book and it helps both parents and school age children learn English vocabulary, verbs, grammar, and conversation. It teaches parents the skills they need to share literature and to be involved in the school-going process with their children.

If you attend the Dual Language program currently and are a native Spanish speaking family, please contact Prairie View or Roanoke Elementary for more information.


Brule Elementary School, Navasota, TX
The Latino Family Literacy Project is an effective and interactive parent program designed to support parents in building a family reading routine in Spanish and English through short stories that can be enjoyed by the whole family. Parents will be given access to books to read at home with their children that reflect the knowledge of Latino families.
This will be a fun and exciting time to talk and meet other parents and learn to help your child be successful.

Brookside Elementary School
Led by Mrs. LeParc, Mrs. Astudillo, and Mrs. Schinn, Brookside School kicked off a new program for parents of our English Language Learners. The Latino Family Literacy Project elementary school program is a family reading program (Family Stories / Cuentos Familiares) and can be used to read with the entire family. It uses books that are appropriate for reading levels grades 1-4 ; depending on the literacy levels of the student. This 10-week program teaches parents the importance of establishing a family reading routine with their children, how to share the book and it helps both parents and school age children learn English vocabulary, verbs, grammar, and conversation. It teaches parents the skills they need to share literature and to be involved in the school-going process with their children. We are very excited for, and proud of, our initial group of participants! Read More

Lamont Elementary School, Lamont, CA

On March 17, 2004, parents in the Latino Family Literacy Project met for the first time. The program called Family Stories/Cuentos Familiares is a bilingual reading development program designed to improve parent involvement by helping parents share high interest books with their children at home. In this program, parents enjoy meeting together once each week to preview a new story book that they take home and read with their children. This ten week program has the following goals:

  • Establish and support a family reading routine
  • Improve Spanish and English language skills
  • Strengthen parent and child interaction
  • Encourage critical reflection, dialogue, and integrated writing projects

A program highlight is the creation of a Family Book by participants. During the final session, willing parents may share their Family Book with everyone. Of course, they will share their book with family members at home for years to come.


Jersey City Public Schools
The Jersey City Public Schools is excited to launch its partnership with the Latino Family Literacy Project. In 2014-15 the district ran two highly successful after-school pilot programs with PS #17 and PS #28. This school year, we are expanding the program to three more schools for a total of five (5) participating schools.

Huto Independent School District – Hutto, TX
Hutto has adopted the Family Latino Literacy Project as a parental involvement program. This comprehensive parental involvement program provides culturally relevant and a linguistically enhancing guided approach to family reading. The program offers quality bilingual books (English/Spanish), English-language development, vocabulary review and an engaging curriculum to promote a focus on family literacy. The program encourages parents to read with their children to enhance their reading and language skills.

La Ballona Elementary School, Culver City, CA

The La Ballona Elementary School Latino Family Literacy Project culminated a third year of parent education on Tuesday, April 19th with congratulatory certificates of completion for all participants and the opportunity to share the family scrapbooks, created by each parent, showcasing newly learned family reading routines. Mrs. Jaffe, Ms. Laura and Mr. Kronfeld joined in the celebration.

The Latino Family Literacy Project is a parent involvement and literacy program designed to establish and nurture family reading routines for bilingual families. Beautiful children’s literature books written in both English and Spanish are used to teach parents how to share the process of reading with their children. All reading selections reflect the experiences of the Latino culture and are anchored around universal themes. The program has an evaluation process to measure the benefits of what is being learned in class and includes home activities that parents share with their children which are supported by state literacy standards. With the guidance and direction of Mrs. Claudia Benitez, our English Language Development Specialist, twenty La Ballona parents completed the Latino Family Literacy program this year!


Danville School District No. 118, Danville, IL
This ELL Family Literacy Program provides an opportuntiy for families to meet together and share in learning the language and culture of the Danville area. Classes are held at the same time for adults and for their children with materials and activities designed to meet the needs of the adult learner as well as the young child.

Fort Bend, Sugar Land, TX
The Latino Family Literacy Project™ provides family reading routines for Spanish- and English-speaking parents and their children. The Project introduces the VISTA Method, a language acquisition method and a step-by-step literacy instruction process. It involves family reading, vocabulary development, and English-language development for Latino parents and their children. Each age specific program engages the parents in reading with their children, reflects the experiences of Latino families, and is centered around universal themes.

Lucia Mar Unified School District, Lucia Mar, CA

On October 26, 2011 Oceano Elementary School kicked off a new parent involvement program called The Latino Family Literacy Project™. Lead by teachers Diana Tappan and Carolyn Le-Fort, families receive a new book each week to take home and read as a family. The stories are designed to get families talking with their children about their own cultural connections and use nightly reading as the platform for these discussions. The first book, A New Sun, described the travels of a person who migrated from Mexico to work and live in the United States. The stories shared that evening are a prime example of just how well the use of literature to illicit conversation works.

Participants also spend part of the evening building a family album based on their talks and readings. The staff at Oceano sees this new program as a way to increase family literacy in the community as well as increase the parent involvement at the school.


Ramona Elementary, Moreno Valley, CA
Latino Family Literacy Elementary School Program is a program for parents to establish a daily family reading routine with their children while providing English Language Development. It promotes parent involvement with their child’s schooling. The select books are for early readers ages five to ten.

Newport Mesa, Costa Mesa, CA
The Latino Family Literacy Project™ is a reading program of the Lectura group of literacy services. Lectura Inc. is an educational publishing organization providing a wide range of educational programs including books, workshops and seminars expressly designed to establish a family reading routine for Latino parents and their children. The preschool program uses age-appropriate books for preschool age kids. Parents learn to read with their children, pose questions and teach school readiness skills to their children. Together parents and kids learn English vocabulary and simple English language grammar. The Latino Family Literacy Project™ is offered at most of our preschool sites. We have incorporated books that depict a wide variety of cultures to represent the children and families at our preschools. Parents who participate in this wonderful parenting series will gain additional strategies to use at home with their children to foster reading and writing, build their home libraries with engaging books, and create a “family scrapbook” to use to promote literacy activities with their children based around family experiences.

Lamont Elementary School, Lamont School District, Kern County, CA

On March 17, 2004, parents in The Latino Family Literacy Project™ met for the first time. The program called Family Stories/Cuentos Familiares is a bilingual reading development program designed to improve parent involvement by helping parents share high interest books with their children at home. In this program, parents enjoy meeting together once each week to preview a new story book that they take home and read with their children. This ten week program has the following goals:

  1. Establish and support a family reading routine
  2. Improve Spanish and English language skills
  3. Strengthen parent and child interaction
  4. Encourage critical reflection, dialogue, and integrated writing projects

A program highlight is the creation of a Family Book by participants. During the final session, willing parents may share their Family Book with everyone. Of course, they will share their book with family members at home for years to come.



Teachers’ Stories
parent involvement programs for hispanics
Parents’ Stories
parent involvement programs for english learners
Districts’ Stories
parent programs for latino parents