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In 2005, the University of Colorado entered into a research project with six elementary schools in the Denver Public School District (DPS) and one elementary school in Boulder Valley School District (BVSD). This project titled, Transitions to Biliteracy: Literacy Squared® is a comprehensive biliteracy model that has been designed to accelerate the development of biliteracy in Spanish-English speaking children attending schools in the US The Literacy Squared model is both research-based and research-tested. Its conceptual framework draws on research positing that a dire need exists for a new theory about literacy instruction for emerging bilingual children (Bernhardt, 2003; Grant & Wong, 2003), and that second language literacy acquisition is greatly enhanced if learners are literate in their first language (August & Shanahan, 2006).