Universities Take Early Intervention Approach

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Katherine Leal Unmuth

Conversations about closing the achievement gap for Hispanic students often center around reaching children as early as possible — in preschool, or even as toddlers.

More universities are embracing a similar mindset. They are seeking to reach students before they’ve even thought of applying to college. That means working with students and parents in high school, or even middle school.

An article in The New York Times proposes that these outreach efforts may be able to accomplish diverse universities in ways that traditional affirmative action policies cannot.

The story points to California as a case study, since it has a ban on affirmative action admissions.

“It is not enough, university administrators say, to change the way they select students; they must also change the students themselves, and begin to do so long before the time arrives to fill out applications,” says the article.

The story highlights 18-year-old Erick Ramirez, who attends Anaheim High School and was just accepted to San Francisco State University. He was able to do that through the help of representatives from the University of California, Irvine, working with him over a three-year period after school and on weekends. They focused on topics such as classwork, test prep and applying for financial aid.

According to the article, UC-Irvine spends more than $7 million a year on out reach. That includes working with low-income students. Part-time employees and college students often work with schools.

UC Irvine graduate and current employee Cristina Flores helps students attending Century High School in Santa Ana with tasks including filing out college applications. She worked with Jasmin Rodriguez, 17, who plans to attend UCLA next year.

“Without their guidance, I would have been so lost,” Jasmin told the Times. “There’s so many little things you don’t know unless someone tells you.”

Poll: Texas Education Budget Cuts Hurt Latino Families

Posted on May 8, 2013 by Katherine Leal Unmuth

Latinos living along the border between Texas and Mexico reported feeling hurt by the state’s $5.4 billion in state education budget cuts two years ago, according to a new poll by the Texas State Teachers Association and the group Latino Decisions.

About 67% of those polled said they knew about the cuts and as a result noticed negative changes such as fewer teachers, cuts in after-school programs, cuts in transportation and supplies, overcrowding and larger class sizes, teacher pay cuts, and other problems. Most favored accessing the Rainy Day Fund for more school funds.

The survey clearly highlights that education, and not just immigration, is a key issue for Latinos.

“The importance of public education to border area Texans should not be underestimated,” poll director Sylvia Manzano said in a TSTA news release.

Those Hispanics polled also reported being quite engaged in their children’s schools, including by involvement in sporting events, fundraising, and meetings with teachers and principals. Additionally, the poll found most parents want their children to obtain a college degree.

“The results present a clear warning to those who promote blue collar job training for Hispanic students over increased access to a college education,” according to the Latino Decisions report. “When asked if it is better for their children to secure a job full-time after high school, or go to college full time, Hispanic parents chose full-time college over the job 85% to 10%.”

According to Latino Decisions, 400 Latino adults who live in El Paso, Laredo and The Rio Grande Valley were polled in March, with interviews conducted in English and Spanish. These findings are very interesting, but also must be placed into context. Southern Texas has many Mexican American residents and schools that are almost totally Latino, while there are areas further north, such as Dallas, which are predominantly immigrant, and yet the schools overall are more integrated.

- “Poll: For Latinos in Texas, schools are the heart of the community,” NBC Latino.

- “TSTA poll: Hispanics take school cuts personally,” Texas State Teachers Association.

Lawsuit Threatened over Funding for ELLs in Nevada

Posted on May 2, 2013 by Katherine Leal Unmuth

Civil rights organizations in Nevada are raising concerns about the scant funding for English Language Learners attending the state’s public schools, and are investigating a possible lawsuit against the state.

The Las Vegas Sun reports that the ACLU of Nevada, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and Hispanics in Politics have met to discuss the situation. Hispanics in Politics president Fernando Romero went as far as to say that Latino students have become “collateral damage,” CBS reported, after funding for ELLs was cut by legislators last session.

The discussions come on the heels of a lawsuit filed just last week by the ACLU against the state of California on behalf of six ELL students and their families, alleging that the state has not adequately educated its ELL student population.

However, Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval has proposed adding $29 million for ELLs to the budget for use over the next two years.

According to a recent study by the UNLV Lincy Institute, Nevada has severely underfunded services for ELL students. Clark County schools reported serving 53,073 students in its ELL program in February 2013, but 94,771 are defined as ELLs. The report says that Nevada is one of only eight states that does not allocate specific funds to the ELL population (beyond regular base per-student funding). Schools therefore rely on federal funding for additional money.

“The lack of a state vision and action plan for ELL education is especially problematic in Nevada, where despite its higher numbers of ELLs, has no funding mechanism for ELL education nor standards to guide the educational goals and achievement of its ELL students,” the report charges.

According to the study, the Miami-Dade Schools in Florida provides funding of $4,677 per ELL student, while in the Clark County schools in Las Vegas provides just $119 per student.

Just last week, the ACLU, Asian Pacific American Legal Center and the law firm of Latham & Watkins LLP sued the state of California for its alleged failure to provide an adequate education to some 20,000 ELLs. They allege that about 250 school districts say they are providing no to few services to the students. The state has responded that it is committed to making sure ELLs receive appropriate instruction and help.

What sort of funding does your state provide to ELLs? In addition, how are school districts actually using the funding? Are ELL students receiving language services?

- “Latino Students Are “Collateral Damage,”" CBS Las Vegas.

- “Study of a New Method of Funding for Public Schools in Nevada,” American Institutes for Research.

- “Nevada’s English Language Learner Population: A Review of Enrollment, Outcomes and Opportunities,” UNLV The Lincy Institute.

- “Calif. Neglecting Thousands of English-Learners, Lawsuit Claims,” Learning the Language blog. Education Week.

- “California ignoring some English learners, lawsuit says,” Los Angeles Times.

Plaintiff in Historic Texas School Finance Case Remembered

Posted on April 26, 2013 by Katherine Leal Unmuth

Demetrio Rodriguez played a pivotal role in the creation of what is known as the “Robin Hood” school funding system in Texas. He was the lead plaintiff in the Rodriguez v. San Antonio ISD case, which was first brought in 1968.

In part, the case centered on inequality and whether children children had a constitutional right to an education.

The issue arose when students attending the poor, almost totally Mexican American Edgewood Independent School District in San Antonio walked out of class, demanding better teachers and resources. They marched to the district’s administration building.

Rodriguez was a veteran and a sheet metal worker who became involved in the Edgewood Concerned Parents Association in San Antonio. According to the Texas State Historical Association, because of the area’s poverty and property tax based funding, the district was only receiving $37 per student, while wealthy children in neighboring Alamo Heights received $413 per child.

In Rodriguez, a federal district judge found the system unconstitutional, but the U.S. Supreme Court later overturned that decision. According to the historical association, Rodriguez responded by saying that “the poor people have lost again.”

However, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund tried another challenge with Edgewood ISD v. Kirby in 1984, and Rodriguez once again joined as a plaintiff. This time, in 1989, Edgewood won, and the funding plan known as “Robin Hood,” in which property-rich districts must send funds to poor districts, was born.

Rodriguez died this week at the age of 87, the San Antonio Express-News reported.

“He was my hero,” said his daughter Patricia Rodriguez, now a third grade bilingual teacher in Edgewood ISD, told the Express-News. “I would like for other people to remember him as a great warrior. Even though he wasn’t well educated, he didn’t let that stop him. It didn’t keep him from fighting for what he thought was right.”

To this day, inequalities between the communities persist. Edgewood ISD is about 98% Hispanic and 97% economically disadvantaged, and Alamo Heights is about 38% Hispanic and 21% economically disadvantaged.

In the 2011-12 school year, the academic performance gap was stark. According to the Texas Education Agency, of 10th graders initially taking the English Language Arts, Math, Science and Social Studies exams, 80% of Alamo Heights students passed all the exams, compared with 40% of Edgewood students. Keep in mind, there are many other students who dropped out and of course were not tested.

The same year Edgewood had 506 high school seniors enrolled and 791 ninth-graders—quite a gap. Meanwhile, Alamo Heights had 353 seniors and 388 ninth-graders.

And the fight over adequate funding for Texas schools continues to rage on. Hundreds of school districts representing more than one million children have once again sued the state for inadequately funding schools. In February, a judge ruled once again that the school finance system is unconstitutional. According to the Dallas Morning News, the ruling centered on schools being inadequately funded, unequally funded and limitations on districts’ taxing levels. The state has planned to appeal.

During the trial, former Texas state demographer Steve Murdoch testified that more funding is needed, particularly because of the growing number of Hispanic and poor children in the state. Texas’ student enrollment is now about 51% Hispanic and 60% economically disadvantaged.

The Texas Legislature cut more than $5 billion in public education funding in 2011 to balance the budget.

“The debt all of Texas owes to Rodriguez can be best repaid by properly funding the state’s public schools,” wrote the editorial board of the San Antonio Express-News.

Clearly, Rodriguez’s battle is not over.

- “Rodriguez was a warrior for equity,” San Antonio Express-News

- Rodriguez v. San Antonio ISD, The Handbook of Texas Online.

- “Judge: Texas school finance system ruled unconstitutional,” The Dallas Morning News.

- “Latino-Majority Texas School System Faces Funding Challenge,” Latino Ed Beat.

Most Colorado Latino College Students Need Remediation

Posted on April 17, 2013 by Katherine Leal Unmuth

A new report by Colorado higher education officials finds that in 2012, almost 78% of Latino students enrolled in the state’s two-year colleges need remedial education. Latino students fared better at four-year colleges, where 40% need remedial courses.

By comparison, 57% of white students needed remediation at two-year colleges and 19% at four-year colleges. African-American students fared the worst, with 90% needing remedial coursework at two-year schools and 56% at four-year schools.

The report by the Colorado Department of Higher Education breaks out the rates and numbers of students by college and university. The state also tracks the figures by school district and high school. THe highest rate was found to be 95% at Emily Griffith Opportunity School in Denver Public Schools, and the lowest at just 2% at D’Evelyn Senior High School in the Jefferson County School District.

About 51% of all students needed remediation in math, 31% in writing and 18% in reading.

Even if you’re not a reporter in Colorado, find out how your state tracks remediation rates. Examining which high schools graduate the most students requiring remedial courses can often be just as illuminating as looking at the graduation rates.

- “40% of Colorado high school grads need remediation before college,” The Denver Post.

Florida Scholarship Changes Could Hurt Latino Students

Posted on April 12, 2013 by Katherine Leal Unmuth

A Florida scholarship program known as Bright Futures may soon no longer have such a sunny reputation.

Recently announced eligibility requirement changes mean that significantly fewer Latino and black students will qualify for assistance. The required minimum GPA of 3.0 will remain the same.

State Impact reports that students graduating in the spring of 2014 would have to score at least a 1170 on the SAT or 26 on the ACT. Students now must score 1020 on the SAT or 22 on the ACT.

The Florida College Access Network is pushing for scholarship eligibility requirements that don’t rely so heavily on standardized test scores, but instead will forgive lower scores if a student’s grade point average is high–and vice versa. The group also wants income to be a factor.

An analysis by the University of South Florida obtained by the access network found that 87% of Latino freshmen at state universities entering between summer/fall 2010 and summer/fall 2011 met the standards, but just 35%would qualify under the new requirements.

Additionally, between 7,000 -7,500 Hispanic freshmen met criteria for Bright Futures for Fall 2012, only between 2,700- 3,000 students would meet the new criteria set for Fall 2014, a drop of more than 60%.

Meanwhile University of Florida President Bernie Machen wrote an op-ed in the Tampa Bay Times supporting the changes, saying that they would help keep the program solid financial and able to continue.

“When the Florida Legislature created the Bright Futures scholarship in 1997, lawmakers never intended the program to help students based on their racial status or family income,” Machen wrote. “Rather, the scholarship had only one purpose: to provide a financial incentive for Florida’s most academically talented students to attend the state’s public universities, raising the quality of their experience in college and improving our universities as a whole.”

He argues that minority and low-income students can be assisted through other programs. He cited the Florida Opportunity Scholars, which covers tuition and board for students first in their family to attend college and coming from homes earning less than $40,000 a year.

Meanwhile Florida College Access Network executive director Braulio Colon expressed that Bright Futures should offer access to more students.

“We believe all students can rise and meet high academic standards,” Colon said, and State Impact reported. “But the current scheduled increase in eligibility requirements for this important scholarship program is a dramatic jump that jeopardizes access for thousands of college-going students and relies too heavily on standardized test scores for measuring academic merit.”

State Rep. Ricardo Rangel, a Democrat, has filed a bill that would keep the standards the same, but The Miami Herald reports that it seems unlikely to pass. He relates because he learned English as a second language (his parents were immigrants from Ecuador) and struggled with the SAT–but went on to earn a master’s degree.

But Rep. Jeanette Nuñez, a Republican who is chair of the higher education panel, agreed with the changes.

“Are we going to say that Hispanic students can’t measure up?” the Miami Herald reported.

- “More than Half of Black and Hispanic Students Will No Longer Qualify for Bright Futures Scholarships,” State Impact/NPR.

- “Column: Making futures

- “Number of Bright Futures scholarships awarded to Hispanic university students expected to drop by over 60%,” Florida College Access Network.

- Florida Bright Futures Scholarship Program

L.A. Parents Use “Parent Trigger” To Create Unusual New School Plan

Posted on April 12, 2013 by Katherine Leal Unmuth

Empowered by California’s “parent trigger” law, the parents at one elementary school cast their votes Tuesday in an unusual election.

They were deciding whether the struggling 24th Street Elementary School in Los Angeles should remain in the L.A. Unified School District, break away and be run by a charter school operator–or opt for an unusual combination of the two.

While public school districts and charter schools often compete to enroll the same students, the parents took the unusual step, and 80% opted for merging both models together.

The Los Angeles Times reported that the parents voted for L.A. Unified to handle the kindergarten through fourth grades, and the charter school to handle grades five through eight. Parents will also participating in the hiring process for new staff.

The majority of the children at the school are Latino, and the vote gave voice to many of the Spanish-speaking immigrant parents. That was reflected during the vote. However, they did not work alone. The campaign was largely organized by the group Parent Revolution.

The Times reported that the vote, which took place in a park, had a festive atmosphere and included face painting, piñata and tamales.

“I’ve seen the struggle of some parents here that they’ve gone through so many problems with their children,” parent Esmerelda Chacon told the Los Angeles Times. “I’m very , very happy with the results we got.”

The California law allows a majority of parents at a failing school to petition seeking reforms, including replacing the principal and much of the staff to closing the school.

So far, the parent trigger concept has proved to be controversial. In Florida, for example, the debate has raged over whether the law reflects an effort to privatize education by converting public schools into charter schools run by companies.

It remains to be seen whether putting parents in charge of a school can be an effective turnaround model. But it’s an experiment many are setting their hopes on.

- “Parents choose unique school takeover model in ‘trigger’ vote,” Hechinger Report.

- “Florida Senate revises ‘parent trigger’ proposal,” The Tampa Tribune. April 11.

Initiatives Target Improving Education in South Texas

Posted on March 13, 2013 by Katherine Leal Unmuth

The predominantly Latino communities along the border between Texas and Mexico in the Rio Grande Valley are some of the most impoverished in the nation. The Valley’s residents have long struggled with low educational attainment.

According to a fact sheet from the advocacy group Excelencia in Education, only about 16% of Latino adults ages 25 to 64 in the region hold an associate’s degree or higher–compared with 37% of white, non-Hispanic, adults. About 95% of the K-12 students in the Valley are Latino.

But the higher education institutions in the region are working on major reform initiatives that aim to reverse the trend.

At the University of Texas-Pan American, freshmen with ACT scores of 18 or less or who are not in the top 25% of their graduating class must enroll in course that helps them focus on learning and transitioning into college. About 77% of freshman take the course, which was first created in 2008.

At the University of Texas at Brownsville, high school students can enroll in dual-enrollment courses. The program has grown so popular that about one-third of the university’s students are participants in the dual enrollment program. According to the university, retention rates are higher for college students who were once in the program than for those who did not participate in the program.

State education officials and legislators also are paying attention to the region. Plans are also underfoot to merge the two universities, and to create a medical school in the region at the resulting larger university. Recently, the merger legislation passed the Texas House and Senate higher education committees. The presidents of both universities also support the proposal.

In January, Texas Gov. Rick Perry called on lawmakers lawmakers to approve the merger, therefore allowing the two South Texas universities to be able to access more funds known as the Permanent University Fund. The huge pot of money currently is available to the University of Texas and Texas A&M University systems, but not UTPA and UTB.

“I can’t speak for the legislature, but this vision is so compelling, the need is so great, that it can’t help but make sense,” said Francisco Cigarroa, chancellor of the University of Texas System, in an Inside Higher Ed article.

- “Perry: Let South Texas access permanent university fund,” The Texas Tribune.

- “UT System Planning New Rio Grande University,” The Texas Tribune.

- “Everything’s Getting Bigger in Texas,” Inside Higher Ed.

New Latino Education Coalition Forms in Texas

Posted on February 20, 2013 by Katherine Leal Unmuth

Members of the newly formed Latino Coalition for Educational Equality announced the creation of their group outside the Texas Senate chambers on Tuesday. They want to ensure that Latino voices are taken into consideration as important school reform legislation is considered this year.

The announcement of the group came on a day when education topics such as graduation and testing were discussed in the Texas Legislature. The coalition members said they planned on testifying on education issues during Texas House and Senate education committee hearings.

Latinos now make up about 53 percent of Texas public school students, but the coalition says they are excluded from deciding important policy.

“I’m just amazed by the lack of Latino experts in the process,” said Joey Cardenas, of Texas HOPE, as reported by the Texas Observer. “I think you’re leaving a significant part of the equation out.”

He added that Latino leaders must “not be an afterthought, but as decision makers in that process.”

Members of the group include representatives of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the National Latino/a Education Research and Policy Project and the Texas Association of Bilingual Education.

Earlier in February a judge ruled that the Texas school funding system is unconstitutional and is not adequately funding schools. The state is expected to appeal the decision to the Texas Supreme Court.

As I reported earlier on this blog, when the case went to trial, former state demographer Steve Murdock testified that the significant challenges facing Latino children required a greater investment from the state.

“Our future is increasingly tied to the minority population–how well they do in terms of education will determine how well Texas does in the future,” Murdock said, according to The Dallas Morning News.

He estimated that by 2050, Texas public school students will be about 64 percent Latino and 15.5 percent white. ABout 27 percent of Latinos live below the poverty line–compared with 9.5 percent of whites.

- “Advocates Worry Latino Voices are Being Sidelined in Texas School Reform Debate,” Texas Observer.

- “Students Play Pivotal Role in Texas School Funding Case,” Latino Ed Beat.

- “Judge rules Texas school finance system unconstitutional; appeal expected to Supreme Court,” The Dallas Morning News.

ACLU Considers Lawsuit Over California’s Treatment of ELL Students

Posted on February 1, 2013 by Katherine Leal Unmuth

A recent report by two civil rights groups asserts that more than 20,000 California public schoolchildren who are English language learners are receiving no language services, and threatens a lawsuit if no action is taken to remedy the situation.

The American Civil Liberties Union of California and the Asian Pacific American Legal Center collaborated on the study, which was released last week, and sent a letter to Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson and the California State Board of Education demanding changes. They gave them 30 days to deliver a plan.

“The children who are neglected today, in schools with no EL services, become the long-term English learners of tomorrow, sometimes struggling their entire school careers without anyone stepping in to make sure they have the tools to learn,” Jessica Price, staff attorney with the ACLU of Southern California, said in a news release.

The district with the most students not being served, according to the report, is the Los Angeles Unified School District, with 4,150. As the Los Angeles Times reported, ELLs make up a quarter of California students, of which about 85 percent are U.S.-born. The civil rights groups want improvements such as better monitoring of programs by the state, sanctions on districts that are not providing services, and that the districts create a plan to improve instruction if sanctioned.

The state responded that 98 percent of the state’s ELLs are receiving services and that progress has been made in delivering better instruction to English learners.

“Despite the enormous financial strains of recent years, California has made dramatic progress in seeing that all English learners receive appropriate instruction and services,” education official Karen Cadiero-Kaplan said in a statement, according to the Times.

- “Students struggling with English not getting help, report says,” Los Angeles Times.

- “ACLU Warns it Will Sue CA Over Under-served ELL Students,” New America Media.

- “Lake Elsinore: School district refutes ACLU claim,” The Press-Enterprise.

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Category Archives: State Policy