Program Description
Lectura Proactiva, currently distributed as Intervenciones tempranas de la lectura, is a one-to-small group reading intervention aimed at providing Spanish-speaking early readers the skills and strategies to accelerate the transition to reading in English. Students begin with alphabetic principles, reading connected text, and reading for meaning. Later, students focus on decoding multisyllabic words, fluency, and comprehension skills. Students meet daily for 50 minutes with a bilingual certified teacher in small groups of three to five students. In its successful evaluations, Lectura Proactiva was delivered by bilingual certified teachers who received extensive professional development and coaching from the developers.
Program Outcomes
Two studies evaluated Lectura Proactiva in urban Texas schools with high populations of EL learners. In both studies, Spanish-speaking first-grade students scoring below the 25th percentile on literacy measures were randomly assigned to receive Lectura Proactiva as a supplement to their regular reading instruction, or to a business-as-usual condition. Lectura Proactiva students scored significantly higher on Woodcock-Johnson measures, qualifying it for the ESSA “Strong” category.
Staffing Requirements
Bilingual certified teachers
Professional Development/Training
In the research schools, intervention teachers received 18 hours of professional development, in addition to frequent staff development sessions and coaching. The same level of PD is essential to expect positive outcomes.