The White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics hosted an Aug. 9 national conference call to discuss President Obama’s focus on college access and completion for Latinos.
More than 290 individuals participated in the remote discussion, including ACSA Vice President David Gomez, superintendent of Santa Paula UHSD. The discussion was facilitated by the initiative’s Executive Director Juan Sepulveda and Deputy Director Jose Rico.
The White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans is a collaborative group of agencies working under the guidance of the U.S. Department of Education. The Initiative was begun by an executive order from President George H.W. Bush in 1990, and has continued its work through subsequent presidential administrations.
The initiative’s primary goal is to strengthen the capacity to provide high quality education while increasing opportunities for Hispanic American participation in federal education programs. In addition, the initiative acts as a resource for information related to closing the achievement gap for Hispanic Americans.
Gomez noted that Sepulveda and Rico made a number of important points during the Aug. 6 conference call.
“The salient points I picked up were their focus to make college more affordable and to have high schools and colleges prepare Latino students – and all students – better in order to graduate from high school and to succeed in college,” Gomez said. “They also announced that the Obama administration is allocating $1 billion to K-12 and colleges to work together to accomplish these goals over the next few years.”
Gomez was impressed with the tenor of the White House message, saying he got the impression that the Obama Administration feels very strongly about the issue of improving the educational success of Latino students and all students.
“In fact, by 2020 the goal of the Obama Administration is for the U.S. to once again be the No. 1 country in the world in college graduation rates. The U.S. is currently No. 12,” Gomez said.
Gomez noted he had the opportunity to meet Sepulveda and his staff at a recognition ceremony a few months ago for Thelma Meléndez de Santa Ana receiving HispanicBusiness magazine’s Woman of the Year award. Meléndez is a former ACSA Board member and is currently a U.S. assistant secretary of education. Gomez said Sepulveda also attended the recent CALSA Summer Institute.
“I got the impression that he and his staff are trying to get input from various educational leaders in the U.S. and that they are using the input to put together effective strategies with good opportunities for colleges and school districts to fund these strategies.”
Specifically, Gomez’s participation in the recent conference call has led to some direct action on his part.
“I am currently working with UC Santa Barbara staff in their Graduate School of Education and Department of Minority Affairs to help plan the next steps to operationalize the initiative’s strategies at the high school and college levels,” he said. “We are planning on how best to prepare future Latino educational leaders and all school leaders that work with Latino and EL students.”
Although Gomez, like all educators these days, has his plate overflowing with work, he said he’s glad for the opportunity.
“Even though it is more work for all of us to implement these strategies, I feel intellectually and professionally invigorated because of the positive effect it will have on our students and school leaders,” Gomez said.