Could school choice help close the Latino education gap?
Its a problem that education advocates say needs to be addressed both aggressively and quickly: the Latino education gap. Many have proposed ideas to close…
Emmanuel Angeles raises his hand to be called on during an English language learner summer school class at the Cordova Villa Elementary School, on June 12, 2013 in Rancho Cordova, Calif. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
Its a problem that education advocates say needs to be addressed both aggressively and quickly: the Latino education gap. Many have proposed ideas to close the gapfrom enhancing cultural competency to extending learning opportunitiesbut it remains a problem.
Now, a Latino advocacy group in Arizona says it has an idea that could work. It involves educating Latino parents about school choice, which is defined as giving parents the freedom to choose the school they want their children to attend.
SEE ALSO: Closing educational achievement gaps would grow the U.S. economy
Chicanos Por La Causa (CPLC) is creating a pilot program that aims to increase awareness of school choice among primarily low-income, Latino families in Phoenix. The group believes that if parents are informed about the various school options and resources that are available, their children will have a greater opportunity to succeed.
I hope that we can empower parents to make quality school choices, Magdalena Verdugo, vice president of education for CPLC, said in an interview with VOXXI. That can be done in different ways, including giving parents the tools they need to walk into schools and ask questions. We want to show them that they can do it and, most of all, that they have the right to do it.
A Latino advocacy group in Arizona wants to educate parents about school choice. (Shutterstock photo)
With a $209,000 grant from The Walton Family Foundation, CPLC is developing the pilot program to teach Latino parents about the high-quality schools that are available, including those in the traditional public, charter or private system.
One way the group plans to do this is by using the promotoras model. CPLC plans to hire school choice coordinators who will go out into the community and educate Latino parents about the school choices available for their children. Theyll also help parents understand how Arizonas school rating system works.
CPLC also plans to do some data analysis. One area theyll look at is enrollment of Latino students in charter and non-charter schools. They also plan to collect anecdotal data on why Latino parents chose to send their children to their current schools. The results will be shared with Latino families both in English and Spanish.
What we find is that some of our Latino families make education choice based on convenience, Verdugo said. They are not focusing on whether their local school is actually performing well or not.
She added that sometimes parents want to send their children to a higher-performing charter school so that they can get a better quality education but that they run into barriers. For example, she said some parents who work all day and cant take their children to school refrain from enrolling their children in charter schools that dont offer transportation.
SEE ALSO: Teach For America: Latino education needs to happen now
But while Verdugo says she believes school choice is one of the variables that could help close the Latino education gap, some education advocates disagree.
They say a more effective way to close the Latino education gap is by improving public education as a whole. That includes investing more in public schools instead of cutting funding. It also includes addressing the underlying issues, like poverty, that are causing some students to fall behind academically.
Some education advocates are critical of charter schools. (Shutterstock photo)
Some education advocates also say some charter schoolswhich is a popular school choice optionhave a history of excluding students, especially those who are more difficult to educate and would bring down the schools overall test scores. This includes English language learners, students with disabilities and students who fall behind academically.
But not all charter schools are bad. Some offer new ways to teach students and are more rigorous. There are also some community-based charter schools that focus on cultural competency. This involves understanding the language and economic barriers that students face and how it affects their academic performance.
The National Council of La Raza (NCLR) is supportive of these types of community-based charter schools. In fact, the group has a network of about 115 charter schools that serve more than 25,000 Latino children across the country. The schools are run by local community groups that are NCLR affiliates.
About 15 years ago when the charter movement started to take off, a lot of our affiliates decided to create charter schools that they felt would better serve the needs of Latino students and English learners, Peggy McLeod, deputy vice president for education and workforce development at NCLR, told VOXXI. What we did was to support them through funding.
NCLR also offers these schools teacher trainings and various programs, including some to motivate parents to become more involved in their childrens education and some to encourage Latino students to pursue STEM careers.
SEE ALSO: Latinos wanted: Push for Hispanics in STEM fields
McLeod said a few of the charter schools have closed down over the years due to low academic performance. But she said there are many that have done really well because theyve integrated a set of core standards that includes setting high expectations for students.
And like Verdugo, McLeod said she views school choice as a tool that could help close the Latino education gap.
In communities where the traditional public schools have not served Latino students well, I think charter schools are a great alternative, she said. But that doesnt mean we dont support traditional public schools. We certainly do. We feel its important that we support those schools as well because our charter schools dont reach all the Latino students in the U.S.
