A New Framework for Hispanic Parent Programs

A New Framework for Hispanic Parent Programs

The program was more ongoing and gave the parents a lot of feedback on how to help their children.

Now that Parent Involvement is such a strong national focus, it is important to provide teachers with a whole new framework for Hispanic Parent Programs, if we want parents and kids to become life long readers.

Harris County Department of Education formed the Cooperative for After-School Enrichment, or CASE, in 1999 to mobilize the community to work together to ensure that every child in Harris County has access to an after-school program.

CASE develops and implements a variety of programs to serve students, families, schools and communities:

  • 21st Century Community Learning Centers
  • Partnership Project
  • After-School Initiative
  • CASE AmeriCorps
  • ENRICH After-School

This testimonial video was filmed at Westwood Elementary school to demonstrate that Spanish-speaking parents benefit greatly from participating in The Latino Family Literacy Project™ at their child’s school site.


Harris County Office of Education, with CASE and 21st Century programs collaborated to provide Parent Involvement Programs at Spring Branch.

Parents may not have strong reading skills in their own background, but once they are taught the importance of reading, along with strategies for sharing books, and are provided with books that they love, parents are so excited to read with their children. A big part of our program outcomes is that parents are provided life-changing skills and training for becoming life long readers. That’s why bilingual books are so important in our literacy programs, because it’s one way to help Spanish speaking parents read with their children, while developing English together as a family.

Teachers who come to our workshops learn the difference between hosting a one-time workshop at their school for parents, versus an ongoing approach to family reading and literacy development. Another big reason for attending a workshop is to understand the parents in a whole new way. Teachers leave our workshops with a new framework for family reading with bilingual families.