Desarrollando
un Futuro Mejor
Building a
Better Future
Abriendo Puertas/Opening Doors
The nation’s first evidence-based, comprehensive training program
created by and for Latino parents
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 the
nation’s Latino children.
Key Value of Abriendo Puertas
Parents are the child’s first teacher,
home is the child’s first school
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
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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 FORGET
SHOW ME AND I WILL REMEMBER
INVOLVE ME AND
I WILL MAKE IT MINE
Chinese Proverb
AP Activity - How brain develops
Taking Research off the Shelf
Program 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
Supporting the
Campaign for Grade Level Reading
Partnership with
Attendance Works
Share research on school attendance
with parents
•Relevant
•Accessible
•Actionable
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 Puertas
For more information about how you can incorporate the
Abriendo Puertas/Opening Doors Program
in your city,
please contact:
Sandra Gutierrez
National Program Director
Abriendo Puertas/Opening Doors
1545 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 700
Los Angeles, CA 90017
(213) 201-3908
abriendopuertas@familiesinschools.org
http://www.familiesinschools.org/abriendo-puertas-opening-doors/