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Saturday, September 12, 2009

Latino Education a 'Catastrophe'

By Martin Salazar
Journal Staff Writer
          Referring to an "education crisis," members of an activist group called on education leaders and the Latino community to work together to overcome the "catastrophe" of poor Hispanic student achievement.
        "We are sounding the alarm to everyone," said Miranda Aragon, a member of the Latino/Hispano Education Improvement Taskforce.
        According to graduation rates released last month by the state, 50.2 percent of Hispanic students in the class of 2008 had graduated within four years, compared with 64.1 percent of Anglo students. At Albuquerque Public Schools, the state's largest district, only 39 percent of Hispanic students graduated on time compared to 58.8 percent of Anglo students.
        "If education in general is in trouble today, Latino education is a catastrophe," said Jose Armas, task force member. "That's why it's imperative to give specific attention to our community for a change."
        Armas said incremental change won't be enough to overcome the achievement gap between Latino and Anglo students. He added that failing to address the problem will have dire consequences for the state's economy, given that Latinos make up the majority of the student population. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 54.6 percent of the state's public school students are Hispanic, while 30.6 percent are Anglo.
        Armas said the financial cost to all New Mexicans for failing to educate half of Latino children is staggering. He estimated that New Mexico faces $800 million in lost income a year for every 90,000 Latino dropouts.
        The task force called for education leaders to:
        • Use federal stimulus money on school reforms to begin overcoming the achievement gap.
        • Create a systematic statewide plan to address Latino education with milestones, timetables and resources, and rethink every education decision to see how it will impact Latino students.
        • Get the Latino community to re-engage with schools and start taking ownership of their children's education.
        Education Secretary Veronica Garcia thanked the group for drawing attention to the problem. She said that beyond increasing high school graduation rates, schools also need to ensure that graduates are prepared to succeed in college and in their careers.
        She said while some school districts have high graduation rates, their students aren't necessarily ready for college.
        Gov. Bill Richardson wasn't at the news conference, but the task force has been meeting with him on the issue.
        "The governor is deeply concerned that an achievement gap persists, and that is why he's announced several new initiatives focused in improving it," Richardson spokeswoman Alarie Ray-Garcia said.
        She mentioned an aggressive effort to get dropouts back in school, establishment of the Office of Hispanic Education, achievement gap summits and additional teacher cultural competence training.
       

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