Celebrating and improving Latino education for Hispanic Heritage Month

Latinos have a lot to celebrate for Hispanic Heritage Month, namely growing high school graduation rates as well as higher enrollment rates in college, but we’ve got a long way to go.

In celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month, we look at the three keys to improving education among Latinos. Major topics include pre-K education, teacher professional development and the Common Core Standards. In order to get a comprehensive perspective, VOXXI talked to Rosita Ramirez, who is director of Constituency Services-Education for the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO).

SEE ALSO: School Justice Project prevents cycle of school dropouts

As far as a national agency that has the pulse of Hispanic community, that’s NALEO. It’s a nonpartisan organization that provides professional development opportunities and technical assistance to the nation’s more than 6,000 Latino elected and appointed officials. That’s why NALEO can provide excellent insight into the current state of Hispanic education in America.

Better college graduation rates

Rosita Ramirez ays the challenge is in the follow-through when it comes to higher education.

“There have been a lot of wins,” Ramirez said. “We have started to see that Latino graduation rates are growing from high school, as well as enrollment rates at two-year community colleges and four-year universities.

“Where we need to focus in on is having those students complete their college requirements and career achievement goals. To get them to be able to not only enroll but complete their college completion goals.”

Many Latino college and university enrollees eventually drop out, a number that is disproportionate with other ethnicities, and in the case of many of them seems to be associated to socio-economic challenges.

Better preparation in kindergarten and grade school

The other end of the educational spectrum begins with pre-K programs, with Hispanic communities having the lowest preschool attendance rate: Roughly 63 percent of Latino children didn’t attend preschool compared with 50 percent of white children.

The most obvious key to improving education for Latino children is to get them involved with a pre-K program. The education gap begins when kids arrive at kindergarten. Basically, it should come as no surprise that if a child didn’t attend any type of preschool, on the first day of kindergarten they are already behind their peers.

“This is critical for Latinos,” Ramirez said. “The data is still very clear that access for Latino children is still not what we’d like it to be. So it’s an access issue. This is something that we’re informing our policymakers of the critical need to make sure that Latino children not only have access but are attending high quality learning care facilities.

“The kids are going to really develop from a social and emotional perspective. Also, a learning center provides them with the academic skills they’re going to need to align themselves into the K-12 system so that they’re ready to tackle and approach education with the right footing.”

Another aspect in improving education for Latino children is empowering educators and administrators with professional learning opportunities. In order to accomplish this goal, Ramirez said the idea is to open the eyes of school board members, university trustees and state legislators.

Common Core Standards

Then there’s the Common Core Standards, which as of late appear to be on shaky ground for all ethnic groups, but in particular Latinos. Currently 36 states, including the District of Columbia, are giving students field tests with new assessments regarding the Common Core standards; however, the actual tests aren’t expected until 2015.

For Latino students, the standards could be a game changer with rigorous curriculum aimed at getting students to master key skills and concepts that will help them become college and career ready.