Frank X. Moraga
By Frank X. Moraga / Amigos805
The news can be disconcerting for many of us who have been involved in one way or another in encouraging Latinos, and all young people, to succeed in education and life — high dropout rates in high school, students who enter college or university classrooms underprepared and a traditionally sluggish higher education graduation rate.
But should we give up our efforts to mentor young people in the K-12 system, raise funds for scholarships, provide internships and other opportunities?
Of course not. To provide us with a big boost of positive news, a new report indicates things aren’t as bad as traditional media make it seem to be. In fact, it was traditional media — NBC News — that reported that Latino youth are shattering the myths that they are mostly English-language deficient, are more likely to drop out of high school and are really not interested in going to college.
“The Condition of Latinos in Education: 2015 Factbook” documents that only 18 percent of young Latinos in the nation are English-language learners, they represent 24 percent of public school enrollment (expected to grow to 30 percent by 2023), with Latino high school graduates enrolling in college at a higher rate than their fellow white or African-American students, according to a story by Juan Castillo of NBC News.
The report was released by Excelencia in Education, which published its first survey in 2004. Since then, Latino K-12 enrollment has jumped from 19 to 24 percent, Latino math and reading scores have increased by double digits in the past 10 years, Latino high school completion rates have grown from 57 to 65 percent, the number of Latino high school dropouts has been cut in half to 13 percent, college enrollment has climbed from 54 to 70 percent, the number of Hispanic-Serving Institutions (like recently added UCSB) increased from 238 to 370 and college completion rates have grown from 17 to 22 percent.
The entire 32-page report is available for free download at http://www.edexcelencia.org/research/2015-factbook
The goal of Excelencia in Education is to not just document Latino educational success, but to use the data to “compel and inform action.”
We completely agree. This report must be used as a starting point by educators and community leaders to show the battle to educate our youth is far from over. In fact, let us renew our focus to provide the educational funding needed, not just for Latinos but to help all students to have an equal opportunity to succeed in K through 12, obtain a meaningful vocational, community college or university education and become strong contributors to the workforce of tomorrow.
On that front, we have been failing as a nation.
Education Week recently released its 19th annual Quality Counts State-by-State Report Card. At one time California was one of the most envied states in the nation for its educational system, but the Golden State in 2014 earned an overall D-plus grade, finishing 42nd among the 50 states and the District of Columbia, with a score of not quite 70 out of 100 points.
The nation as a whole didn’t fair much better, coming in with a grade of C. Within some of the individual categories, the state received a C for “Chance for Success,” 42nd nationally; D-plus for “School Finance,” 40th nationally; D-plus for “K-12 Achievement,” 33rd nationally, and D for “Early Education,” 45th nationally.
Yikes!!! How would you have liked to take a report card like that home when you were a young person?
We have to do better than that for our young people.
Overall, Education Week provides a look at 40 categories that make California’s D-plus grade. Go to http://www.edweek.org/ew/qc/2015/state-highlights/2015/01/08/california-education-ranking.html?r=706503081 to get the state’s full report.
After you download it, use the data in both these reports to educate yourself and take some meaningful action.
The educational achievement of the next generation of students depends on it.
— Frank X. Moraga is editor/publisher of Amigos805. He has served as business editor, director of diversity and general manager of a bilingual publication at the Ventura County Star, and as a reporter in the community editions of the Orange County Register and Los Angeles Daily News. He can be reached at his new email at frank@amigos805.com