The National K-12 Foreign Language Resource Center (NFLRC) was established at Iowa State University in September 1994. It was funded by the U.S. Department of Education, International Research and Studies Program. This center was one of nine, and was unique for its focus on the improvement of foreign language education in grades K-12 through professional development of foreign language teachers in those grades. The NFLRC was a collective effort between Iowa State University, the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) and numerous foreign language educators around the country. The Center for Applied Linguistics is a private, nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C. CAL's main focus is to build strong foundations in elementary and secondary schools to improve the nation's ability to teach and learn languages.

The NFLRC's work focused on four goals. The first was collaboration between foreign language teachers, organizations, universities, language resource centers, and national resource centers. This collaboration allowed NFLRC to spread the impact of its initiatives to a wider audience. The second was training and through professional development the NFLRC institutes raised knowledge and skills in language and content, built leadership capability, and established collaborative professional relationships. The third goal was research. CAL and the NFLRC conducted research on new teaching methods, the use of advanced education technology in the classrooms, and performance assessment. All of this research was designed to improve the learning of K-12 students and teachers. The fourth and final goal was development and dissemination. The NFLRC provided materials to serve as new and useful resources that were widely distributed to educators across the country.

In August 2010, Iowa State University was forced to close the NFLRC due to lack of funding.

This collection (1989-2009) contains documents and records related to the activities of the National K-12 Foreign Language Resource Center that include evaluation reports, final project performance reports, grant performance reports and program evaluations. It also includes newsletters, bulletins, brochures and booklets for teacher preparation. Books, thematic units and CDs are also included in this collection.

This collection is organized chronologically.