Abriendo Puertas/Opening Doors

The nation’s first evidence-based, comprehensive training program

created by and for Latino parents with children ages 0-5

Desarrollando un Futuro

Mejor

Building a Better Future

Families in Schools: The Home of Abriendo Puertas/Opening Doors

OUR MISSION:

To involve parents and communities

in their children’s education to

achieve lifelong success.

What is Abriendo Puertas?

An evidence-based comprehensive parenting, leadership, and advocacy program for parents with children ages 0-5:

• Delivered in 10, 2-hour sessions• Engages parents at a very personal level and

results in transformative learning.• Uses popular education and draws on the real

life experiences of parents.• Enhancing parenting skills early in a child’s life

The Foundations for Lifelong Well-being Begin in the Early Years

Abriendo Puertas/Opening Doors was developed to improve the

outcomes of thenation’s Latino children.

Parents are the child’s first teacher, home is the child’s first school

Key Value of Abriendo Puertas

Parents – as leaders of their family – are

powerful agents of change

Having an informed and engaged parent is one of life’s greatest

advantages

Abriendo Puertas Highlights

The AP curriculum promotes best practices in:

• Early literacy• School attendance• Summer learning• School readiness• Language development• Bilingualism• Health• Socio-emotional wellness• Parent leadership and

advocacy

AP Supports the Goals of the Campaign

• Informs parents about the achievement gap and national and local data around the issue

• Engages parents on how to raise the bar for reading proficiency and overall academic achievement

• Encourages parents to collaborate with each other to advocate for equitable opportunities for their children

AP Supports the Goals of the Campaign

AP parents learn about how grade-level reading is connected to:•School Readiness

– Importance of early learning and the benefits of preschool education

•School Attendance– Impact of good attendance in

early childhood on reading

•Summer Learning– Benefits of summer learning– Consequences of summer

learning loss

AP Supports the Goals of the Campaign

• AP early literacy activities include:– Language development

information and skills– Library field trip– Storytelling– Book making exercise– Lotería Game– Importance of bilingualism– Reading Pledge– Home Activities - Vocabulary

rich environment

How does Abriendo Puertas engage parents in the Campaign?

“You can’t change what you don’t acknowledge”

TELL ME AND I’LL FORGETSHOW ME AND I WILL REMEMBER

INVOLVE ME AND I WILL MAKE IT MINE

Chinese Proverb

AP Activity - How brain develops

Taking Research off the ShelfProgram facilitators use local and national data to share with parents to:•Inform them about the achievement gap

– “Where is my child in these statistics?”

•Develop their consciousness around the parent’s role as their child’s first teacher, leader, and advocate

– “What can I do to support my child?”

•Encourage home activities – habits that promote school readiness•Prepare them to lay the foundation for academic success

– “Let’s go to the library and read!”

AP 2012 National Evaluation

Library Visits:• Before AP

– 30% of parents had never been to the library with their child

• After AP– less than 2% of parents

reported not using the library– 36% increase in the number

of parents who now take their child to the library once per week.

Where do you see your child in these statistics?

One in six children who are not reading proficiently in third grade do not graduate from high school on time, a rate four times greater than that for proficient readers

Students who have lived in poverty are three times more likely to drop out or fail to graduate on time than their more affluent peers; if they read poorly, too, the rate is six times greater than that for all proficient readers

For black and Latino students, the combined effect of poverty and poor third grade reading skills makes the rate eight times greater

Source: The Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2009

Partnership with Attendance Works

Supporting the Campaign for Grade Level Reading

ABRIENDO PUERTAS/OPENING DOORS PARENT LOTERIA GAME

Steps to Success Activity

Reading Pledge Card for Parents in English

Reading Pledge Card for Parents in Spanish

Parent Testimony

“I love this country and work hard so that my family can have opportunities and an education that I’ve never had. I enjoyed the Abriendo Puertas program and met other women just like me – we all want the best for our kids. The experience helped me understand my role as the leader of my family. I’ve now set goals and made plans to reach them, step by step. For example, with reading – I don’t want Miguel to not read well, I learned a lot of kids don’t and it’s hard for them to catch up. Miguel is 3 years old. We have fun going to the library, reading books and telling stories. It’s like the saying – If you don’t look forward, you stay behind. He will go to a University one day.”

– Liz Ochoa, Parent

Parent Testimony

“The program has taught me the habit of reading is learned. In my case, by implementing these habits in my daughters at an early age will help secure their academic success. Now that I have begun to practice this, I find it very gratifying to see how my 5 year old daughter waits for me every night so I can spend time reading to her.”

–Ricardo, Parent

Knowledge…like the sky….is never private property…

Learning is the art of sharing.

Contact Abriendo PuertasFor more information about how you can incorporate the

Abriendo Puertas/Opening Doors Program in your city,

please contact:

Sandra GutierrezNational Program Director

Abriendo Puertas/Opening Doors1545 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 700

Los Angeles, CA 90017(213) 201-3908

abriendopuertas@familiesinschools.org http://www.familiesinschools.org/abriendo-puertas-opening-doors/