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Rafael Lara-Alecio is a Texas A&M University System Regents professor of bilingual education at Texas A&M University, where he has been a faculty member since 1991. He earned his doctorate in educational psychology from the University of Utah. Previously he was a math teacher, professor, and university president in his home country of Guatemala.
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Dr. Lara-Alecio has made many contributions to the field of bilingual education, including his influential Four-Dimensional Bilingual Pedagogical Theory and Model designed for bilingual classrooms. This theory and the accompanying low-inference classroom observation instrument have been validated in dual language, transitional bilingual, and English as a second language (ESL) classrooms with English language learners (ELLs). The validation of the theory makes his work different from other theories and associated research. Additionally, as principal investigator (PI), he led a longitudinal randomized controlled trial study investigating the differences between transitional bilingual education and structured English immersion—one of only three such projects conducted in the U.S. His research also includes virtual classroom observations, teacher professional development, and mentoring and coaching. The Institute of Educational Sciences (IES), National Science Foundation (NSF), and Office of Investing in Innovation (i3) in the U.S. Department of Education have recognized his work with over $25,000,000 in research funding. Prior to his large-scale projects, major research in bilingual education largely consisted of work with archived data, small quasi-experimental studies, or from theoretical venues. He helped to catapult major research agendas in bilingual education toward larger longitudinal randomized controlled trial studies.
Maintaining his commitment to Texas A&M University as a land-grant institution, Dr. Lara-Alecio has assisted the State of Texas in the training and certification of in-service bilingual and ESL educators over the past 15 years. He has secured another $13,250,000 in training grants and contracts from federal and state agencies for this critical component.
Dr. Lara-Alecio has led research internationally in Costa Rica, China, Taiwan, and Saudi Arabia. Working with the Costa Rican Ministry of Education, the Costa Rica-USA Foundation, and the Costa Rica Multilingual Foundation, his team assessed computer applications for learning English in elementary and secondary schools. He conducted classroom interventions in China and Taiwan and tested them in English as a foreign language (EFL) classrooms. In Saudi Arabia, his team evaluated an English preparatory program at three Saudi universities.
His other contributions include the development of the Hispanic Bilingual Gifted Screening Instrument and the first major dual language curriculum for SRA McGraw-Hill’s DLM Early Childhood Express, the curriculum determined to yield the highest effects for such programs. He co-authored a bilingual anthology purchased by over 35,000 educators: The Bilingual Book of Rhymes, Songs, Stories, and Fingerplays. Mostly recently, he established the TAMU Center for Research and Development in Dual Language and Literacy Acquisition (CRDLLA) and the new Dual Language Research & Practice Journal.
Project ELLA-V
Dr. Lara-Alecio currently serves as PI on Project English Language and Literacy Acquisition-Validation (ELLA-V, PR/Award Number U411B120047), an i3 U.S. Department of Education grant. According to the project's website:
Between 2003-2008, researchers with Project English Language and Literary Acquisition (ELLA) investigated the efficacy of structured English immersion and transitional bilingual education models in teaching Spanish-speaking kindergarteners English language and literacy skills, which was funded by IES. The current research validates and scales up the earlier project. Investigators are conducting a randomized, controlled trial to validate the individual interventions of Project ELLA and determine the degree of impact on English acquisition for native Spanish-speaking students in grades K-3. This research is estimated to impact 75 elementary school campuses, 600 teachers, and 15,000 students across the state of Texas.
Peer-reviewed Journal Articles
Huerta, M., Tong, F., Irby, B. J., & Lara-Alecio, R. (2016, in press). Measuring and comparing academic language development and conceptual understanding via science notebooks. Journal of Educational Research. doi: 10.1080/00220671.2014.992582
Tong, F., Irby, B. J., Lara-Alecio, R., & Koch, J. (2014). Integrating literacy and science for fifth grade Hispanic current and former English language learners: From learning to read to reading to learn. Journal of Educational Research, 107(5), 410-426. doi:10.1080/00220671.2013.833072
Lara-Alecio, R., Tong, F., Irby, B.J., Guerrero, C., Huerta, M, & Fan, Y. (2012). An experimental study of science intervention among middle school English learners: Findings from first year implementation. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 49(8), 987-1011. doi:10.1002/tea.21031
Tong, F., Lara-Alecio, R., Irby, B. J., & Mathes, G. P. (2011). The effects of an instructional intervention on dual language development among first grade Hispanic English learning boys and girls: A two-year longitudinal study. Journal of Educational Research, 104, 87-99.
Lara-Alecio, R., Tong, F., Irby, B. J., & Mathes, G. P. (2009). Teachers’ pedagogical differences among bilingual and structured English immersion kindergarten classrooms in a randomized trial study. Bilingual Research Journal, 32(1), 77-100. doi:10.1080/15235880902965938
Lara-Alecio, R., Galloway, M., Mahadevan, L. Irby, B., Brown, G., & Gomez, L. (2005, Spring). Texas dual language program cost analysis. The Journal of the Texas Association for Bilingual Education, 8(1), 64-93.
De la Colina, M. G., Parker, R., Hasbrouck, J. E., & Lara-Alecio, R. (2001). An intensive intervention in reading fluency for at-risk beginning Spanish readers. Bilingual Research Journal, 25(4), 417-452.
Lara-Alecio, R., & Parker, R. (1994). A pedagogical model for transitional English bilingual classrooms. Bilingual Research Journal, 18(3 & 4), 119-133.
Books
Lara-Alecio, R., Irby, B., Calvo-Buezas, T., & Guerrero, T. (Eds.) (2009). Hispanics in the United States, immigrants in Spain: A threat or a new civilization? Houston, TX: The NCPEA/Rice University Connexions Press.
Schiller, P., Lara-Alecio, R., & Irby. B. (2003; 2008). The bilingual book of songs, stories, rhymes, and fingerplays. [Antología de cuentos, juegos, y recetas]. (A bilingual Spanish/English primary book). Beltsville, MD: Gryphon House, Inc.
Irby, B., Brown, G., Lara-Alecio, R. & Jackson, S. (2013). Handbook of educational theories. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.
Psychometric Instruments
Lara-Alecio, R., & Parker, R. (1996; revised electronic version 2003; web version 2013). The Transitional Bilingual Observation Protocol. Inline Resources.
Irby, B. J., & Lara-Alecio, R. (1999). The Hispanic Bilingual Gifted Screening Instrument, http://www.teachbilingual.com/product.cfm.