Descubriendo La Lectura (DLL): Addressing Literacy Needs of Struggling Spanish-Speaking First Graders

Descubriendo La Lectura (DLL) is an intensive, one-to-one literacy intervention that helps struggling first-grade English language learners (ELLs), while also drawing on Spanish-speaking students' cultural and native language assets through the unique potential of bilingualism. DLL is taught to first-grade students in their native Spanish language, reflecting the evidence that early interventions that build literacy proficiency in students' first language support long-term language and literacy achievement in both Spanish and English. The tutoring is highly structured with a set of prescribed activities for each lesson, including a portion devoted to phonics instruction. Teacher procedures include a high degree of progress monitoring through multiple recordkeeping procedures, such as the running record form-a detailed accounting of student progress completed during each lesson to inform the student's next lesson. In addition, the tutors regularly communicate with the classroom teachers to discuss student progress and coordinate reading strategies.