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Do Hispanic Teachers + Hispanic Students = Success?(Part 1 of 3)
The teacher to pupil racial composition in school on minority students’ performance in reading and mathematics might be a factor. Based on date gathered from over 100 school districts in southern California, results do vary across different ethnic groups. While Asian students perform better in an environment with a large number of Asians, Hispanics tend to do worse in the setting with students of the same race. Also, the more Hispanic teachers there are in schools, the better Hispanic students do.
Further analysis suggests that the cultural affinity between teacher and student is critical to the success of Hispanic students. In California, the sharp increase in the number of Hispanic teachers also tends to coincide with the number of teachers who have emergency credentials and thus lower the overall quality of teachers, which in turn decreases test scores of Hispanic students. This finding points to the importance of Hispanic teachers with adequate training and experience to the success of Hispanic students, and has implications for teacher education policy.*
*Southern Political Science Association, September 2009
Poverty and the Educational System for Latinos
Although some Latinos, especially Latinas, are successfully navigating the American educational system, the majority are struggling academically and leaving schools without acquiring the skills necessary to function in the new unforgiving global economy.
The majority of Latinos face disadvantage and poverty. Child Trends reports that at the dawn of the 21st century, Latino children were more likely than other group of children to live in very poor neighborhoods: "Sixty-one percent of poor Hispanic children lived in neighborhoods with a high concentration of poor residents (a neighborhood where at least 40 percent of the residents are poor), compared to 56 percent of white children and 53 percent of black children."
While there was some improvement in Latino poverty rates in the first half of this decade, the recent economic collapse is reversing most of those modest gains. The most recent data show that almost 30 percent of all Latino children are growing up in poverty. And according to the National Center for Children in, 9.5 million children (or over 60 percent of all Latino children) live in low-income households.
Source: Marcelo M. Suárez-Orozco and Carola Suárez-Orozco, co-founders of the Harvard Immigration Projects, are co-Directors of Immigration Studies at NYU. – May 2009
What Are Los Kitos Up To?
Los Kitos Are on Hand for a 25 Year-Old Tradition
Los Kitos creator, Martha Montoya, has been a part of the La Opinion’s Annual Children’s Art Contest for many years and 2009 was no exception.
2009 Theme - "Me Gusta Leer”
Martha, along with Rose Parade Float creator, Raul Rodriguez and other wonderful judges, was part of the panel that selected the winner of this year’s La Opinion Art contest.
As it is every year, it is rewarding to participate in such an event that strives to develop children’s art aptitudes.
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