President Obama is set to renew an initiative aimed at increasing academic participation and achievement within the Hispanic community. South Florida educators were particularly happy about the announcement, made Tuesday of the renewed initiative, saying local students would be greatly rewarded.
“It's an idea whose time has come. The face of America has changed. It's time for a new national policy that addresses the needs of the fastest-growing population of students in the country,” said Alberto Carvalho, superintendent of Miami-Dade schools. Carvalho will be at the White House Tuesday to help the president launch the initiative.
In South Florida the issue is particularly pertinent, with a large percentage of school-children being Hispanic. In Miami-Dade, over 60 percent of students are Hispanic and more than half of those consider Spanish their first language.
Despite their numbers, there exists an achievement gap between Hispanic students and their non-Hispanic, white counterparts. Across the nation, Hispanic students have the highest drop-out rate, according to the Pew Hispanic Center, which US Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan has labeled, “economically unsustainable and morally unacceptable.” Duncan further stated that: “We're absolutely committed to providing every single child with a world-class education, regardless of his or her skin color, country of origin or ethnicity”
The initiative began under
the administration of George Bush Sr. in 1990 and has been renewed by
president’s Clinton and Bush Jr. The initiative is expected to provide
assistance to Hispanic students in danger of dropping out, and to try and
breach the achievement gap.
