TAMIU-LBV Literacy Partnership

The Partnership guides our intervention and training to work well within the instructional frameworks adopted by our partner schools. The MELD© or Method for Elementary Literacy Development was created by former Partnership Program Director, Andrea Pawelek, to meet local needs. MELD© was adopted in Fall, 2018. It is an easy-to-customize intervention consistent with the principles of research-based literacy instruction and reinforces the National Reading Panel's Five Pillars of Reading.

Educators have known for many years that early literacy development is a lynchpin of overall educational success. As school leaders look closely at high school graduation rates, they see that reading on grade-level by grade 3 is critical for future academic success. A student who can read on grade level in third grade has a FOUR TIMES better chance of graduating high school than a student who lags behind. When emerging readers grow up in poverty the gap is even greater. (Read more about the importance of reading for graduation from the Annie E. Casey Foundation. http://gradelevelreading.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Double-Jeopardy-Report-030812-for-web1.pdf)

The one-on-one tutoring provided in partnership Centers is an intervention that classroom teachers cannot themselves provide. By serving the school’s most-in-need emerging readers, Partnership tutors become priceless members of the school.

Is MELD© bilingual, ELL, ESL, or another approach?

• MELD fits into a school’s ESL framework, with no requirement that tutors speak a second language. The goal of the Literacy Partnership is to support English language literacy for students identified by the school for below grade level performance. Almost all children served are in grades kindergarten, first and second grade. A tutor who is bilingual might help a student to learn a new English vocabulary word now and then, but the lessons are conducted in English.
• Spanish language literacy is a priceless asset for our bilingual students. In 2017 our flagship school, Cuellar Elementary, hosted our first cohort of Spanish literacy intervention tutors. In 2022, Bonnie Garcia's Literacy Center welcomed a cohort of spanish literacy intervention tutors. The Partnership believes that biliteracy should be embraced and encouraged, and will continue to build Spanish language support to help more students read well in both Laredo’s native languages.

How are students selected to receive tutoring?
Participating students are identified for service by partner school staff. Students come out of their classrooms three to four times weekly for 30 minutes. Partnership intervention sessions are coordinated closely with each partner elementary school. Since school resources are always limited, teachers and reading interventionists use performance data to select students who are at the right place in their development to benefit most from this tutoring model. It is precisely this collaboration that helps make Partnership interventions so efficient and effective. On average, participating students’ literacy skills grow almost twice as quickly as that of students not served.