Diplomas Count - Issue 34, 2012 - 19

online>> www.edweek.org/go/dc12

an improvement of 111 percent. “We took a district with a high dropout rate in high school and a low college-going rate, and we’ve turned the whole thing around,” says Murillo. Without role models or family members who have gone to college, the Sweetwater students learn the ins and outs of campus life from the Compact advisers, who are current college students. Marcela Meave is a graduate of the Compact program, a former adviser, and now is pursuing her master’s degree in school counseling. As part of the first student cohort of the program, Meave says just learning about the requirements for college was a real eye-

opener. Later, as an adviser who was a first-generation Hispanic student herself, she could both speak the high school students’ language and relate to their experiences. “I was mainly demystifying the college-admission progress,” she says. “Many think you have to be a 4.0 student to make college possible and you have to have money. That’s not the case for these students.” She explains there are grants and loans to make college possible, as there were for her. With eight campuses and 70,000-plus students, Miami Dade Community College in Florida awards more associate degrees to Latinos than any other insti-

tution in the country, according to a recent report by Excelencia in Education. Administrators are frequent visitors to local high schools to help with academics and financial aid and get students ready and motivated for college, says the college provost, Rolando Montoya. Instead of waiting for students to come to the college, Miami Dade staff members from admissions and financial aid go to the high schools on evenings and Saturdays for “fafsa marathons” to help families, many of whom are Latino, fill out the federal Free Application for Federal Student Aid form. A financial-aid officer explains the process step by step,

with floating assistants walking around the room to help parents or students who get stuck completing the form online. “In the beginning, they are shy. They don’t know the terminology. They haven’t gone to college,” says Montoya. But they are in a familiar setting, with personnel in the high school that they know, and information is translated into Spanish and Haitian Creole. “You can see the faces of gratefulness. Some of them even cry when they realize that their children are graduating and going to college,” he says. The college’s faculty members are working with high schools to comply with the new Florida

law requiring all 11th graders be tested for college readiness. The community college’s professors are also devising curriculum for developmental math and reading so students can get up to speed before enrolling. “The battle for access was won several years ago. We have a majority-minority institution,” says Montoya. “We are not satisfied with the rate of completion. That is the new battle.” n
Special coverage on the alignment between K-12 schools and postsecondary education is supported in part by a grant from the Lumina Foundation for Education, at www. luminafoundation.org.

Heritage profile: dominiCan republiC
Dominican-Born Student Straddles Two Cultures
When 16-year-old Roger Sanchez first arrived in Washington from the Dominican Republic, his peers weren’t always quite sure what to make of him. “I’m Afro-Latino. … I look African-American, but I speak Spanish,” he says. “They had lots of questions.” In his school and in his neighborhood, there weren’t many other AfroLatinos or students from the Dominican Republic. But Sanchez sees his heritage as a gift. “Because I speak both languages, I was accepted by everyone,” he says, “and I can mediate between groups.” He says he found himself in that role frequently at his middle school, which was majority African-American, and also at Bell Multicultural High School, a public school with a focus on social justice and foreign language in the District of Columbia, which has large populations of both African-American and Hispanic students and where Sanchez is currently a junior. When he entered the U.S. public school system as a 5th grader at Brightwood Elementary School, Sanchez spoke almost no English and didn’t receive much support in learning his new language, he says. “There was no one to sit down and teach me. I learned some words,” he says. At his next school, Takoma Middle School, he was enrolled in an English-as-a-second-language program, and by 7th grade, he had exited the program and transitioned into regular classes. The language is not a barrier for him now, he says, and neither is the culture. Life in the United States is “different” from what it is in the Dominican Republic, where he moved between the city and smaller towns, he says, but movies and North American culture were common there, and he didn’t feel totally unprepared. Through sports and clubs and making friends, he settled in. At Bell, Sanchez has made himself omnipresent. He is vice president of the National Honor Society, a member of the school’s Global Kids program, and a member of the Future Business Leaders of America. He loves his history and English classes and plays on the football and baseball teams. His family has hosted exchange students from France and Mexico, and he has traveled to Mexico through one of the school’s programs. He will visit Indonesia soon through the same program, which focuses on environmental sustainability. When he can, Sanchez also stops by the school’s environmental club. The 11th grader has found his teachers at Bell, many of whom are young, to be supportive and easy to talk to. Even so, he sees peers who have not made the transition so easily. Many Spanish-speaking students at the school are not as motivated to learn English, according to Sanchez. Students find distractions and some cultural barriers, he says, like “a stereotype that some Latinos are lazy.” He says he tries to encourage his friends. Sanchez’s mother moved to the United States five years before her children, who remained in the Dominican Republic with their grandmother. Sanchez moved to Washington with his older sister, who’s currently enrolled at the University of the District of Columbia. His father and brother are still in the Dominican Republic. His parents did not attend college, but Sanchez says that they support his educational goals. He and his siblings always attended school in the Dominican Republic, though the family had to pay to send them. For now, Sanchez has set his sights on college and, eventually, a master’s degree in foreign policy or international relations. He says his life experience has made him interested in “my place in society and issues about my community and current events.” n —Jaclyn zubrzycki

dominiCan republiC
selected statistics on children of dominican heritage in the u.s.

Roger Sanchez, a junior at Bell Multicultural High School in Washington, rides the school bus to a baseball game. The 16-year-old arrived from the Dominican Republic in 5th grade and now has a 4.3 grade point average at Bell.

2.5%

share of latino children who are of dominican descent

dominican-Heritage education attainment (ages 25-64)

14.4% 63.4% 37.0%

4.6 11.8 30.8

l less than high
school

dominican-heritage children born outside the united states

l High school
diploma (including ged)

dominican-heritage children living in low-income families

25.8 27.0

l some college
(including associate degree)

l bachelor’s degree l graduate or
professional degree

dominican-heritage children whose parents are fluent speakers of english

sourCe: epe research Center, 2012. analysis of data from the american Community survey (2008-2010), u.s. Census bureau.

diplomas Count 2012 |

nicole frugé/education week

19


http://www.edweek.org/go/dc12 http://www.luminafoundation.org http://www.luminafoundation.org

Diplomas Count - Issue 34, 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Diplomas Count - Issue 34, 2012

Diplomas Count - Issue 34, 2012
Table of Contents
Latinos’ School Success: A Work in Progress
A ‘Demographic Imperative’: Raising Latinos’ Achievement
Mexico
Immigration Law Casts Shadow Over Schooling in Alabama
Puerto Rico
N.J. District Bucks the Trend, Draws Latinos to Preschools
El Salvador
College Remains Elusive Goal For Many Latino Students
Dominican Republic
Special Barriers Can Constrain Latinas’ Educational Progress
Cuba
Miami-Dade Educators’ Advice to Districts: Embrace Diversity
Guatemala
Graduation Rate Keeps Climbing; Strong Gains for Latino Students
Graduation in the United States
As New Federal Rules Kick In On Graduation Rates, States Change Their Calculations
A Focus on Latinos
Graduation Policies For the Class of 2012
Sources and Notes
Diplomas Count - Issue 34, 2012 - Diplomas Count - Issue 34, 2012
Diplomas Count - Issue 34, 2012 - Cover2
Diplomas Count - Issue 34, 2012 - Table of Contents
Diplomas Count - Issue 34, 2012 - Latinos’ School Success: A Work in Progress
Diplomas Count - Issue 34, 2012 - 3
Diplomas Count - Issue 34, 2012 - A ‘Demographic Imperative’: Raising Latinos’ Achievement
Diplomas Count - Issue 34, 2012 - Mexico
Diplomas Count - Issue 34, 2012 - 6
Diplomas Count - Issue 34, 2012 - 7
Diplomas Count - Issue 34, 2012 - Immigration Law Casts Shadow Over Schooling in Alabama
Diplomas Count - Issue 34, 2012 - 9
Diplomas Count - Issue 34, 2012 - Puerto Rico
Diplomas Count - Issue 34, 2012 - 11
Diplomas Count - Issue 34, 2012 - N.J. District Bucks the Trend, Draws Latinos to Preschools
Diplomas Count - Issue 34, 2012 - El Salvador
Diplomas Count - Issue 34, 2012 - 14
Diplomas Count - Issue 34, 2012 - 15
Diplomas Count - Issue 34, 2012 - College Remains Elusive Goal For Many Latino Students
Diplomas Count - Issue 34, 2012 - 17
Diplomas Count - Issue 34, 2012 - 18
Diplomas Count - Issue 34, 2012 - Dominican Republic
Diplomas Count - Issue 34, 2012 - Special Barriers Can Constrain Latinas’ Educational Progress
Diplomas Count - Issue 34, 2012 - Cuba
Diplomas Count - Issue 34, 2012 - Miami-Dade Educators’ Advice to Districts: Embrace Diversity
Diplomas Count - Issue 34, 2012 - 23
Diplomas Count - Issue 34, 2012 - Guatemala
Diplomas Count - Issue 34, 2012 - Graduation Rate Keeps Climbing; Strong Gains for Latino Students
Diplomas Count - Issue 34, 2012 - Graduation in the United States
Diplomas Count - Issue 34, 2012 - As New Federal Rules Kick In On Graduation Rates, States Change Their Calculations
Diplomas Count - Issue 34, 2012 - A Focus on Latinos
Diplomas Count - Issue 34, 2012 - 29
Diplomas Count - Issue 34, 2012 - Graduation Policies For the Class of 2012
Diplomas Count - Issue 34, 2012 - 31
Diplomas Count - Issue 34, 2012 - Sources and Notes
Diplomas Count - Issue 34, 2012 - Cover3
Diplomas Count - Issue 34, 2012 - Cover4
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