Be the Difference. Train Teachers. Transform Lives

It’s always a great feeling when change is visible.

This year, Lectores para el Futuro launched the first pilot of the Orton-Gillingham (OG) Teacher Training Program in Spanish. This program is pioneering in Puerto Rico because it equips teachers with a structured, multisensory approach to reading that was previously only available in English. For children at risk of reading difficulties, it means access to an evidence-based method proven to make reading possible.

Over the past months, nine trained teachers worked one-on-one with students who had been struggling to read. In total, more than 360 sessions were delivered, each carefully documented and evaluated.

The results have been remarkable. Students demonstrated significant gains across core reading skills. For example, in phoneme reading, second graders improved from an average of 42.4 to 88.2, and third graders from 62.25 to 88.5. Word reading increased nearly fourfold, and spelling doubled in accuracy. Fluency—measured in words read correctly per minute—rose steadily across the school year, from 26 words at baseline to 49 by year’s end, while accuracy climbed from 60% to over 93%. Growth was also visible in prosody (reading with expression) and comprehension. These results confirm that OG in Spanish is not only viable, but transformative for children at risk of reading failure.

Families were updated regularly on progress, and the results have been encouraging: students improved in phonological awareness, decoding, fluency, and comprehension, while teachers gained confidence in adapting the method to Spanish. On average, students reported high satisfaction with their sessions—between 76% and 100% positive responses.

Students that arrived frustrated and withdrawn, convinced that reading was something they would never master. By the end of the school year, were decoding multi-syllable words and reading aloud with pride. This is a reminder of why this work matters: every child deserves to feel the joy of unlocking language.

Looking ahead, our team will refine the materials based on teacher feedback, finalize culturally adapted resources, and prepare for the first full certification cohort in 2026. This next step means more teachers will be trained, more students will be reached, and structured literacy in Spanish will continue to expand in Puerto Rico.

Thanks to your support, what started as a pilot is already transforming classrooms and children’s futures.