How to improve performance of Hispanic students in our schools?

Getting kids to College is my passion and I am very concern about the low rate of Texas students continuing their education after high school. According to data from the Texas Education Agency (TEA), only 51% of the 2011 high school graduates in Texas went to state Colleges. TEA estimates that 7 - 10% of high school graduates went to out-of-state schools, therefore close to 40% of our students are not continuing their education. This means no bachelors degrees, associate degrees or trade certificates for 2 out of every 5 graduates.

In addition to the large number of students not continuing their education, we have an issue of College readiness in our public schools. TEA records state that 32% of the 2011 college freshmen needed to take remediation courses after high school. These are courses similar to senior level high school courses that did not count towards their college diploma. When looking at minority students, the data is alarming: 40% of Hispanic and 50% of African-American freshmen required remedial courses in 2011. In general terms, our public schools are not preparing our minority students for College.

"Exito Hispano", or "Hispanic Success", is a program implemented in several secondary schools in Texas to increase parent participation in the education of their students.  We all know that parent involvement is one of the most important factors in the success of a student, and it is critical that we continue our efforts to increase parent participation in our schools. But we also need to look at many other factors: curriculum, learning/teaching techniques, career/tech offering, use of technology, College access, financial aid, school district's leadership and public school culture.

Please post your comments or questions on this blog, as we work together to improve the performance of Hispanics and other minority students in Texas and the rest of the country.