Latino News » Education

President’s dropout recovery plan lacks four components to help Latino students

oscar — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:32:04 +0000

President Obama outlined a plan today to reduce the high school dropout rate. He deserves kudos for understanding that this educational crisis goes beyond local communities and state jurisdictions, and has serious national implications for the future. According to the President's statistics: Every school day, about 7,000 students decide to drop out of school - a total of 1.2 million students each year - and only about 70% of entering high school freshman graduate every year. Without a high school diploma, young people are less likely to succeed in the workforce. Each year, our nation loses $319 billion in potential earnings associated with the dropout crisis. The bulk of the dropouts are low-income Latinos and African Americans.

Univision pushes to boost Latino academic levels

oscar — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 16:34:34 +0000

Univision on Tuesday started a multiyear campaign to boost academic achievement among Latinos in the United States by telling parents about what it takes to ensure their children finish high school and graduate from college.

Bay Area charter schools are diverse, study says

oscar — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 16:23:56 +0000

The Bay Area is bucking a national trend of racial segregation in charter schools, according to a new national study. The study by The Civil Rights Project at UCLA called "Choice Without Equity: Charter School Segregation and the Need for Civil Rights Standards" was released Feb. 4 and found that charter schools "are more racially isolated than traditional public schools in virtually every state and large metropolitan region." Almost a third of charter school students in the nation end up "in apartheid schools with zero to one percent white classmates, the very kind of schools that decades of civil rights struggles fought to abolish in the South."

Latinos in Medical School: Family, Faith, and Friends

oscar — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 16:29:27 +0000

There’s no question that Latinos and African-Americans are woefully underrepresented in the nation’s medical schools. For the select few that have the opportunity to recite the Hippocratic Oath?–?an oath taken by doctors to practice ethical medicine?–?the road to M.D. is an arduous one. Once admitted, students are subjected to rigorous training and an academic curriculum that leaves little time for stress relief. The pressure to succeed at these elite institutions is so great that 25.1% of medical students have considered suicide according to a recent study by the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Gender Gap Stops Growing

oscar — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 16:42:05 +0000

A report being released today says that the gender gap in college enrollments has largely leveled off, with the key exception of Latino enrollments, where men are falling further behind women. The report by the American Council on Education comes amid much talk nationally about the significance of trends that have left men making up only about 43 percent of college enrollments and new college graduates. Some colleges have gone so far as to talk about affirmative action for men, which in turn has prompted an investigation by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. And a flurry of articles have suggested problems for the United States economy and society if male educational attainment continues to decline.

SCHOOL LEADERS ASKING FOR MORE LATINO AND NATIVE AMERICAN REPRESENTATION

oscar — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:32:05 +0000

Frustrated leaders and citizens are meeting Thursday (November 19) with the Texas State Board of Education. They're asking for more Latino and Native American representation in school curriculum. The Board of Education is currently rewriting the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills Standards for social studies curriculum in grades k through twelve. The new curriculum will be decided in March 2010 and will likely be used for the next 10 to 12 years.

School Beat: Puente — Bridging the Gap to Higher Education

oscar — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:29:02 +0000

Forty-nine per cent of all California public school k-12 students today are from Latino households, and most are doing poorly in the state’s public education system. While the failure of a huge percentage of students to achieve their academic and civic potential bodes ill for California’s future, it also represents an incredible and unacceptable failure on the part of the state’s education system to be responsive to the needs of its current population.

Study Finds Upbringing of Latino Children May Affect Early Language, Cognitive Skills

oscar — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:30:14 +0000

UC Berkeley senior Maria Zaragoza, an English and film studies double major, said her experience growing up in a Latino household had a profound effect on the woman she is today. But while Zaragoza made reference to the culture and diversity of her family life, two studies led by UC Berkeley researchers suggest ways in which the upbringing of Latino children may have had an impact on their early language and cognitive skills. According to the studies, led by UC Berkeley education and public policy professor Bruce Fuller, toddlers in Latino families have less developed basic language and cognitive skills in comparison to those of Caucasian descent.

Study Finds Latino Toddlers Lagging

oscar — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:42:30 +0000

A UC Berkeley researcher says children born to immigrant Latina mothers tend to have poorer cognitive skills as toddlers than middle-class white children.

Wilmer Valderrama wants kids to go to college, unlike him

oscar — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:49:29 +0000

An organization dedicating to helping Latino students prepare for college has partnered with actor Wilmer Valderrama for a series of nation-wide workshops aimed at training students to plan and finance their education. In May, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI) forged a partnership with the “That 70’s Show” star in an attempt to increase visibility for the organization, CHCI Communications Specialist Shani Provost told Foxnews.com Thursday. “[Valderrama] is a perfect match overall. He is someone who has a reputation as a role model in the Latino community and he continues to break ground with his visible and positive changes in the community,” Provost said.