Where Literacy Becomes Possibility

The hallway at Rodolfo Lozano Bilingual and International Center carries many languages.

It carries many stories, too. Many ways of seeing the world.

Lozano is a small school community of 240 students, preschool through eighth grade, drawing families from across Chicago. Seventy-five percent of students come from low-income households. Thirty-eight percent are multilingual learners. Thirty-five percent are diverse learners.

Resources are limited.

Commitment is not.

Principal Jessica Carrasco believes the school’s diversity shapes more than academics. It shapes who students become.

“Our students grow up learning alongside peers who may think differently, speak another language, or come from a different culture,” she said. “That’s how empathy, communication, and collaboration develop naturally.”

Academic achievement matters deeply, but it is never separated from humanity.

Students learn how to listen closely. How to explain their thinking. How to work alongside classmates whose experiences may differ from their own. These lessons are built daily, in classrooms and across relationships.

That sense of belonging is reflected in the school’s DREAM framework, which centers values like determination, respect, empathy, and mindfulness. Each month, students nominate classmates who embody those qualities.

Often, they choose peers who might otherwise go unnoticed.

During a recent recognition, a quiet middle school student named Vivi was nominated for determination. Her classmates described how she stayed with an assignment long after others had finished, persisting even when it felt difficult.

Later, Vivi shared that she hadn’t realized anyone noticed.

The recognition mattered. It told her her effort counted.

When Jessica began her tenure three years ago, reading proficiency stood at just 3 percent. Today, it is 18 percent.

The progress did not come from shortcuts. It came from focus, intention, and sustained investment in teachers.

“Invest in teachers, and you are investing in students,” Jessica said.

That investment shows up through protected collaboration time, aligned professional development, and research-based literacy instruction using programs like Fundations, Just Words, and targeted Wilson Reading support.

Classrooms feel different now.

Where instruction was once quiet and passive, students talk. They question. They explain their reasoning. They grapple with text together.

That momentum extended into the summer through a partnership with Dr. Jessica Wacker and the DePaul Reading Program, which provided early literacy support for students in kindergarten through fourth grade.

For Jessica, the partnership felt personal. As a DePaul alum, she saw alignment with the university’s Vincentian mission of service, access, and opportunity.

For students, it meant more than instruction.

It meant daily exposure to a college campus. Relationships with college students. A sense of belonging in spaces that once felt distant.

Parents shared that their children returned home energized. Asking to write more. Showing renewed interest in reading.

Attendance remained consistent throughout the program, a quiet signal that students felt connected and supported.

When school resumed in the fall, many students showed little to no summer learning loss. Several demonstrated measurable gains in fluency, accuracy, and confidence.

In a system where summer regression is common, the results stood out.

Beyond the data, Jessica points to exposure as the deeper impact.

“When students spend time on a college campus and build relationships with college students, their understanding of what’s possible begins to change,” she said. “They start to see those paths as real.”

She is clear that circumstances outside of school do not define a child’s potential.

“We focus on what is within our control. Every child is capable of learning to read. It’s our responsibility to provide the instruction, support, and access they need, regardless of where they start.”

Reading is not used as punishment.

It is approached as a source of confidence and curiosity.

Students engage with texts that reflect their interests and experiences while building the foundational skills needed for long-term success.

Looking ahead, Jessica’s vision for literacy is both practical and expansive. She wants students to read, write, think critically, and communicate across disciplines. She imagines classrooms filled with culturally relevant texts and strong partnerships with families and community.

“Literacy is more than decoding words,” she said. “It’s about understanding the world, expressing your voice, and shaping your future.”

Literacy here is built through instruction, relationships, and moments of recognition that help students see themselves as capable and valued.

Those moments accumulate quietly.

And over time, they shape confidence, possibility, and belief.