Promoting Literacy Through Heritage-Language Instruction: A Multisite Randomized Controlled Trial of Descubriendo la Lectura

• In Event: Fostering Culturally Sustaining Literacies of Justice and Liberation

Abstract

Given the growing number of Latino English learners and the lack of evidence-based educational opportunities currently offered, we investigated impacts of one potentially effective literacy intervention: Descubriendo La Lectura (DLL). Through DLL, trained, bilingual, teachers provide struggling first grade Spanish-speaking students one-on-one literacy instruction in their heritage language at an individualized pace for approximately 12 – 20 weeks. Using a multi-site, multi-cohort, student-level randomized controlled trial, we examined impacts of DLL on both Spanish and English literacy skills. Analyses of outcomes indicate that treated students outperformed control students on all 11 Spanish literacy assessments with statistically significant effect sizes ranging from .29 to .97. Analyses of outcomes on 4 English literacy assessments yielded positive effect sizes, though none was statistically significant.

Authors

• Trisha Borman, American Institutes for Research

• Geoffrey D. Borman, Arizona State University

• So Jung Park, American Insitutes for Research

• Bo Zhu, American Institutes for Research

• Alejandra Martin, American Institutes for Research

• Scott Houghton, American Institutes for Research

• Sidney Wilkinson-Flicker, American Institutes for Research