WIU Cited for Hispanic Student Success

WIU Cited for Hispanic Student Success

MACOMB/MOLINE, IL – Western Illinois University is the only Illinois public university and the only Midwestern public university cited among 20 other U.S. public institutions by The Education Trust for successful graduation rates for Hispanic students.

According to the recent brief, "Big Gaps, Small Gaps: Some Colleges and Universities Do Better Than Others in Graduating Hispanic Students," published by The Education Trust (edtrust.org/dc/publication/big-gaps-small-gaps-hispanic), only 13 percent of young adult Latinos hold bachelor's degrees, compared with 39 percent of whites and 21 percent of African Americans. Currently, less than half of Hispanic students who enter four-year colleges and universities graduate within six years.

The institutions recognized in the brief are serving Hispanic students well, as evidenced by the small or nonexistent graduation-rate gaps between Hispanic and white students, according to The Education Trust. Western was among 20 public colleges or universities cited for having the smallest white-Hispanic gaps. Western's rate is 0.8, placing the University at 14th among the 20 recognized.

"We are pleased to be included as a best practice institution in The Education Trust's recent study. This recognition further affirms our entire University's commitment to our core value of educational opportunity," noted WIU President Al Goldfarb. "I'd like to especially extend my appreciation to Alda Godines for her work through Western's Casa Latina Cultural Center and the resources and support this center provides our students."

For more than 38 years, Western's Casa Latina Cultural Center has provided support services for Latino and international students and promoted the understanding of the Latino people to Western's community, surrounding areas and people in the State of Illinois. Prior to the creation of "La Casa" in 1972, Raul Rodolfo Salazar, an assistant professor of foreign languages and literature at WIU, welcomed Latino students into his home to meet and serve as a support system for one another.

The Casa Latina Cultural Center houses two primary groups, the Latin American Student Organization (LASO), Tradicion Hispana Dance Troupe and the International Friendship Club. The center's objectives are to expand collaborative opportunities that showcase the Hispanic and international cultures; inform students about sources of financial assistance; expand current programs and implement new programming to ensure that the changing education and cultural needs of students are being met; develop strategies to further increase retention rates and promote academic success; and create an environment that supports a wide range of student interests and provides opportunities for leadership and personal growth.

"Our staff works diligently with students to assess their educational needs and to ensure their success at Western. We meet with students when we see that they are having problems academically and offer our assistance. Our students and their families are making many sacrifices to obtain their education and we want to make sure that they succeed," Casa Director Alda Godines added.

In addition to providing resources on campus for Hispanic/Latino students, Western provides information about the admissions process to students at high school visits and college fairs in Hispanic communities throughout the Chicago metropolitan area. The University's current Hispanic population is 4.9 percent (total minority population: 16.1 percent). The number of Hispanic students at Western increased 29.5 percent from Fall 2005 to 619 in Fall 2009. Preliminary numbers for Fall 2010 Hispanic Student enrollment is 637.

Western has also been recognized as one of only three Illinois public universities for the Center for Student Opportunity's (CSO) "College Access and Opportunity Guide" for its retention of first-generation and low-income students. Additionally, Western has been cited as a "best practice" model institution among just 15 U.S. colleges and universities – and the only Illinois university cited – by the Southern Regional Educational Board (SREB) for retention and graduation rates.

"Institutions on the 'small gap' list usually don't land there by accident. Often, they have developed a strong commitment to student success, and they have implemented strategies to promote equity and high academic achievement as well," noted the brief's authors, Mamie Lynch and Jennifer Engle.

For more information on Western Illinois University, visit wiu.edu. For more information on The Education Trust, visit www.collegeresults.com.

Posted By: Darcie Shinberger, University Relations
Phone: (309) 298-1993 * Fax: (309) 298-1606

How Young Latinos Communicate with Friends in the Digital Age

Authors:

Mark Hugo Lopez & Gretchen Livingston
Pew Hispanic Center


Executive Summary

When it comes to socializing and communicating with friends, young Latinos (ages 16 to 25) make extensive use of mobile technology. Half say they text message (50%) their friends daily, and 45% say they talk daily with friends on a cell phone. Other communication platforms are less widely used for socializing. For example, fewer than one-in-five young Latinos (18%) say they talk daily with their friends on a landline or home phone, and just 10% say they email their friends daily. These findings are based on a new analysis of data from a nationwide telephone survey of Latinos conducted by the Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center.

Use of mobile communication technologies differs notably among young Latinos by nativity. Two-thirds (65%) of the native born say they communicate with their friends by text message daily, while just 26% of the foreign born do so. And more than half (55%) of the native born talk daily by cell phone with their friends, while just 29% of the foreign born say they do the same.

These differences are explained in part by the fact that the native born are more likely than the foreign born to have a cell phone in the first place. Overall, eight-in-ten (79%) young Latinos say they use a cell phone, with use greater among the native born than the foreign born—84% versus 70% (Livingston, 2010).

Even though text messaging and cell phone calls are the most widely used mediums of social communication among young Latinos, they use these platforms less extensively than do their non-Latino counterparts. Among 16- and 17-year-olds,1 just under half (49%) of Hispanics text daily, compared with 64% of non-Hispanics. When it comes to talking with friends daily via cell phone, there is less of a difference—44% of Hispanics say they do, compared with half (51%) of non-Hispanics who say the same.


1 This analysis is limited to people ages 16 and 17 as this is the age range for which comparable data for non-Hispanics is available from the Pew Research Center’s Pew Internet and American Life Project (PIAL). For a description of PIAL’s data, see the report “just under half (49%) of Hispanics text daily, compared with 64% of non-Hispanics. When it comes to talking with friends daily via cell phone, there is less
“ Teens and Mobile Phones.”

We are spirit

by Roberto Dr. Cintli Rodriguez

In Arizona, we fight because we are spirit. Yet, in recent travels, I’ve gotten the distinct impression that many people think that human beings are made simply of flesh and blood and that only things material have consequence.

Human beings also have spirits. In Arizona, bigot forces are not content with simply getting rid of as many brown bodies as possible, but also ensuring that those that remain become assimilated into intolerant copies of themselves.

The world appears to be knowledgeable about the effort – via SB 1070 – to legalize hate, fear and racial profiling in Arizona. What most seem to be unaware of is that there is also an effort by state schools superintendant, Tom Horne, to brainwash the state’s school children via HB 2281 – the anti-Ethnic/Raza Studies law that unless stopped – will go into effect on Jan 1, 2011.

There is a third law in the works; the effort by state rep. Russell Pierce, chief sponsor of the state’s apartheid laws, to nullify the 14th Amendment in Arizona [guarantees U.S. birthright citizenship].

Tolteka, a renowned Los Angeles hip hop artist – inspired by a recent column – From Manifest Destiny to Manifest Insanity – has penned a rhyme called: The Trilogy of Terror. It breaks down these so-called laws that are intended to destroy our minds and spirits.

Those of us here in Arizona do not recognize these apartheid schemes as laws. At least not as moral or legitimate laws. Even the courts have already struck down the most odious parts of SB 1070.

But back to HB 2281. This is the one people are paying least attention to. While denouncing SB 1070 in May, five UN Special Rapporteurs also denounced HB 2281. They said: “Such law and attitude are at odds with the State’s responsibility to respect the right of everyone to have access to his or her own cultural and linguistic heritage and to participate in cultural life… Everyone has the right to seek and develop cultural knowledge and to know and understand his or her own culture and that of others through education and information.”

They further pointed out that controlling immigration and adhering to fundamental principles of non-discrimination are not mutually exclusive. “States are obligated to not only eradicate racial discrimination, but also to promote a social and political environment conducive to respect for ethnic and cultural diversity.”

Their report is self-evident, yet, we should pay close attention to the illogic of the bigoted forces; they claim they are not against immigration: only illegal immigration. So what does anti-bilingualism and Ethnic Studies have to do with illegal immigration?

There is an equal danger to both SB 1070 and HB 2281; one attacks our bodies, the other our minds and spirits. HB 2281 targets Tucson’s highly successful Raza Studies program. But as written, it applies to the entire state, and it can become copycat legislation – state by state – not simply targeting k-12 education, but universities as well. The authors erroneously claim Ethnic Studies result in hate, segregation, anti-americanism and advocates the violent overthrow of the U.S. government.

What’s at stake with HB 2281 is not simply an attack on a program (Raza Studies), but on the right to teach/learn and the right of students to succeed as a result. As signed, HB 2281 creates a mechanism by which books and curriculums will be subject to approval by the state. The premise is that only Greco-Roman culture (“Western Civilization”) is acceptable for Arizona curriculums. Knowledge from other cultures is henceforth deemed to be “un-American.” Books such as Occupied America (Acuña) and Pedagogy of the Oppressed (Freire) have already been singled out.

In Arizona, the state superintendant of schools has appointed himself not simply education czar (opposing local control), but also, royal cosmographer – determining that not only is maiz-based or Maya-Nahua culture and knowledge – the philosophical foundation for Raza Studies – outside of Western Civilization, but also outside of humanity. In effect, he also fancies himself head of the BIA – determining who/what is Indigenous.

While singling out people of color, these Inquisition-era “laws” in reality, are an attack against all people. The legalization of racial profiling and cultural mind-control belongs in the Dark Ages and the battle against the sanctioning of hate, censorship and forbidden curriculums is being fought right here in Arizona (This is the subject of a forthcoming conference in December at the University of Arizona). Within weeks, this battle will step into the courtroom via a lawsuit against the state. We are confident we will easily win against the forces of fear, hate and ignorance.

* For more info re the efforts to combat HB 2281, go to: www.saveethnicstudies.org

Rodriguez, an assistant professor at the University of Arizona, is a member of TUSD’s Mexican American Studies Community Advisory board and can be reached at: XColumn@gmail.com

Column of the Americas
PO BOX 3812
Tucson, AZ 85722

ILACHE speaks out Against the Decision to close the Open Door Admission Policy for the City Colleges of Chicago

Closing the open door admissions policy at City Colleges of Chicago (CCC) is the wrong thing to do and comes at a time when students need additional rather than less opportunities to obtain access to higher education. For many Chicago area Latino and African American students, CCC has historically been their best hope to continue their education. It is well known that CCC is a feeder institution to many local colleges and universities; thus, closing the doors of admissions hinders not only a students’ access to those institutions but also their ability to proceed to four year and graduate degrees.

Unfortunately, justification for closing the open door admission policy seems to hinge upon a savings of some 30 million dollars for remedial classes certain students entering CCC are required to take. Apparently, certain entering students are testing at an 8th grade level, yet rather than continue to provide these students with the resources they need to succeed, a decision to close the door to the school house has been made.

The Illinois Latino Council on Higher Education (ILACHE) questions the rationale and decision of this new policy. While we do not dispute that certain students may not be fully prepared to enter college, the decision to close the doors seems to be an unjust penalization to students who were educated in a system that was unable to prepare them for the rigors of college. The real solution is rather how can we as a community better invest in all our students prior to graduation so that they can enter college with the basic tools needed to succeed. In other words, we need to fix the school system that feeds CCC its students rather than penalizing students seeking to continue their education. ILACHE commits to work with CCC and other concerned educators to address and help solve these issues, and to ensure that the doors of access remain open.

ILACHE also questions whether the long term ramifications of this decision have been fully considered. We wonder what City programs run by alternative schools would better serve these students and if there are such programs, why they are not working. This question and others should be examined prior to change in the present admission policy at CCC.

ILACHE would also note that any decision to close the doors to an education runs counter to the mission and historical legacy of CCC. As stated on its website, "The City Colleges of Chicago has always represented hope and opportunity to people in Chicago's working class and immigrant communities. When the district was founded on September 11, 1911, the Progressive Movement led by Jane Addams and John Dewey was demanding access to higher education for the nation's poor. The academic community, led by William Rainey Harper of the University of Chicago, urged creation of a "junior college" modeled on the first two years of a four-year college. When its doors opened, the first City College was clearly a "people's college" -- a name that has defined its mission and operations throughout its history."

Today, Chicago's Latino and African American communities are the working class and immigrant communities that Jane Addams and John Dewey talked about and today, more than ever, these communities need more rather than less access to colleges. Therefore ILACHE urges CCC administration to consider the mission of CCC and when they do, we believe that any cost-saving reason to cut the open door admission policy will be outweighed by the decision to keep CCC a “people’s college,” for the sake of our students.

Reports Reveal Colleges with the Biggest, Smallest Gaps in Minority Graduation Rates in the U.S.

Reports Reveal Colleges with the Biggest, Smallest Gaps in Minority Graduation Rates in the U.S.

Contact info: Lauren Stephens [1], 202.293.1217 x. 373

Publication date: Monday, August 9, 2010 - 1:05pm

WASHINGTON (August 9, 2010) – Two reports released today by The Education Trust [2]—“Big Gaps, Small Gaps: Some Colleges and Universities Do Better Than Others in Graduating African-American Students” [3] and “Big Gaps, Small Gaps: Some Colleges and Universities Do Better Than Others in Graduating Hispanic Students” [4]—dig beneath national college-graduation averages and examine disaggregated six-year graduation rates at hundreds of the nation’s public and private institutions.
Even though 57 percent of all students who enroll earn diplomas within six years, the graduation rates for different groups of students are vastly different. Nationally, 60 percent of whites but only 49 percent of Latinos and 40 percent of African Americans who start college hold bachelor’s degrees six years later.
“These averages mask important differences between institutions,” said Kati Haycock, president of The Education Trust. “Graduation rates at individual institutions tell a range of stories—some of smashing success—which should be studied deeply and replicated widely. Unfortunately, there are others of shocking irresponsibility. The lesson of all of these stories is: What colleges do for students of color powerfully impacts the futures of these young people and that of our nation.”
Using several years of data from College Results Online [5]—a unique Web-based tool that allows the public to view college graduation rates by race, ethnicity, and gender for four-year institutions across the country—these reports highlight institutions that are doing well and expose those that are missing the mark on graduation equity, some of them by miles:
• At Wayne State University [6] in Detroit, for example, fewer than one in ten African Americans graduate within six years. For white students at Wayne State, the success rate is more than four times higher.
• The success rate among Hispanic students attending City University of New York’s Brooklyn College [7] is 34 percent, compared with a 53 percent graduation rate for white students.
These colleges are hardly alone.
• At nearly two-thirds of the colleges and universities in the study, fewer than half the African-American students emerge with a degree.
• And though the vast majority of Latino students in the study entrust their futures to public colleges and universities, more than 60 percent of the institutions they attend graduate fewer than half their Latino students in six years.
“We did uncover some large gaps in student success rates and low graduation rates for students of color. But it would be wrong to assume that these gaps are inevitable or immutable,” said Mamie Lynch, higher education research and policy analyst at The Education Trust and coauthor of the report. “For many of the ‘big gap’ schools, we can point to an institution working with a similar student body that graduates students of color at rates similar to those of white students.”
As examples of more successful colleges, Lynch points to such schools as these:
• Old Dominion University in Virginia [8], where African Americans make up almost a quarter of the student population and have historically graduated at rates equal to white students. In 2008, 56 percent of African Americans at the university graduated in six years or less, exceeding the national average graduation rate for black students.
• Florida International University [9] (FIU), where nearly two-thirds of all students are Hispanic. Completion rates among Hispanic students at FIU have outpaced those among white students in each of the past seven years.
• University of California, Riverside [10] (UCR), which successfully graduates black, Latino, and white students. Because of its focus on data, strong leadership, and retention efforts carried out by each of the university’s colleges, the university can boast 63 percent and 67 percent graduation rates for Latino and African-American students, respectively. The success rate for white students at UCR is 62 percent.
The new reports demonstrate that similarities between schools do not necessarily result in similarities in minority graduation rates. At peer institutions—schools with comparable institutional and student characteristics—the gaps for minority student groups run the gamut from abysmal to exemplary.
At the University of Illinois at Chicago [11], a 22 percentage-point gap in success rates separates white and African-American students, who graduate at 52 percent and 30 percent, respectively. But at a peer institution, University of North Carolina-Greensboro [12], the graduation rates among black students are dramatically different. On average, 56 percent of African-American students at UNC-Greensboro graduate within six years, compared with 51 percent of white students. UNC-Greensboro Vice Provost Alan Boyette attributes the university’s equitable graduation rates to three guiding principles: (1) Student success is a part of the school’s mission, (2) the cost-effectiveness of helping students graduate rather than recruiting new students, and (3) the University of North Carolina’s systemwide focus on student retention and graduation goals.
The programs tied to UNC-Greensboro’s goals are available to all students, but many are targeted at minority and underserved populations. The programs aren’t there as showpieces. To the contrary, the university provost relies heavily on data to determine the success or failure of the programs. Those that don’t work are discontinued, and those that do are expanded.
“Higher education institutions that place success at the heart of their mission make it a realistic goal for every student,” said Jennifer Engle, assistant director of higher education at The Education Trust and coauthor of the report. “For both moral and economic reasons, colleges need to ensure that their institutions work better for all of the students they serve.”
For more information about American public colleges and universities making the biggest gains in closing gaps that separate students, read two other Ed Trust briefs, “Top Gainers and Top Gap Closers.” [13]