Credit: The Atlantic
In May of last year, The Atlantic published a piece highlighting the new initiative being created at East Los Angeles' Garfield High School. This new initiative, a partnership between Los Angeles Board of Education, California State University Los Angeles, and East Los Angeles College, would provide guaranteed admission to students who meet Cal State LA's minimum requirements, and would also provide ELAC students with guaranteed admission to Cal State LA. The program was conceived with the hopes of "[creating] a college-going culture in a section of East Los Angeles where only a tiny share of the overwhelmingly Latino residents have college degrees."
The general statistical information regarding national graduation rates indicates that for the year 2011, only 46% of Latino students and 45% of Black students completed their undergraduate education. In addition these figures are significantly lower than the graduation rates for Asian students, 69%, and white students, 58%.
This piece also noted that, "minority students with high GPAs and standardized-test scores are far more likely to attend two-year schools than their white peers and are subsequently far less likely to graduate."
These facts and statistics, along with the new Garfield High School Initiative, highlight two things. First, minority students (however defined by The Atlantic) are being shortchanged as regardless of their high GPA and test scores, they are still more likely than white students to attend open-enrollment two-year colleges. Second, low graduation rates indicated that something is happening at the institutional level where Black and Latino students do not get the opportunity to graduate.
This piece also noted that, "minority students with high GPAs and standardized-test scores are far more likely to attend two-year schools than their white peers and are subsequently far less likely to graduate."
These facts and statistics, along with the new Garfield High School Initiative, highlight two things. First, minority students (however defined by The Atlantic) are being shortchanged as regardless of their high GPA and test scores, they are still more likely than white students to attend open-enrollment two-year colleges. Second, low graduation rates indicated that something is happening at the institutional level where Black and Latino students do not get the opportunity to graduate.
Now, there can be a million reasons that explain why these graduation rates are so low, as well as enrollment rates for Black and Latino students. However, what this new initiative can allude to is that even in spite of college pipeline programs, universities are still doing a poor job at providing support for its Black and Latinos students, which results in lower graduation rates.
Thus, further illuminating another critical component to ensuring that more Latino students from East LA obtain college degrees, that universities also provide students with all the support needed to make graduation possible.
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