California educates about one in eight U.S. students. In 2013, Governor Jerry Brown signed the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) into law, which is the most comprehensive school funding system in 40 years. The LCFF provides more equitable school funding with local flexibility and greater community engagement with the goal of reducing the achievement gap in education. Early child education provides the highest impact in preventing achievement gaps. Many families in California feel like they aren't being adequately served by local early child care providers and want school districts to step up and take responsibility for early child education. However, funding requirements and expectations are complex, and many school leaders don't understand what is available to them or ...
Latinos have historically lagged behind whites in education. They have made strides, like a declining dropout rate and increased college enrollment, but are still more disconnected (not in school, not working) and lag in college completion. Education is key to health, income, and the economy. That's why the financial website WalletHub analyzed 150 U.S. metro regions with nine factors—like public school quality and college graduate rates—to find the "most educated" and "least educated" areas. Unfortunately, the five least-educated areas were all heavily Latino. The McAllen-Edinburg-Mission metro area in South Texas (85.77% Latino) was the least educated city in the country. The area came in 150th on the Educational Attainment and 104th on the Quality of Education & ...
A simple assignment has the power to sharply increase Latino middle-schoolers' chances of getting to college, researchers have found. The assignment? Write essays about your core values and why they are important to you. For the past few years, Stanford University-led researchers followed 81 Latino, 158 black, and control students in middle schools who wrote these types of essays—which can provide "self-affirmation," reinforce adequacy, and add resilience, John Timmer reports in Ars Tecnica. Researchers then compared these essay writers to other students who wrote on neutral topics, like their afternoon routine. For Latinos, the self-affirmation essay writers cut their risk in half of ending up on the remedial track, and they were more than twice as likely to end up ...
A brain aneurysm changed the life of María Emilce López forever—for the better. While a grad student at the University of Minnesota in the 1990s, the Argentine native’s severe headaches led her to be rushed into surgery to treat what turned out to be a brain aneurysm. This was her first, very scary brush with the American medical system. After her ordeal, she decided it was time to help others who might be in a similar position. López, now a senior teaching specialist at the University of Minnesota, helped create new medical Spanish classes that not only teach cultural competency, but also had a unique requirement of students. Update 6/19/20: López passed away in June 2020. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family.
Navigating a health crisis María Emilce ...
Uniting the Latino community together with university researchers will—in theory—increase the well-being of this at-risk population. That's the idea behind the new Latinx Community-University Research Coalition of Indiana. The coalition seeks to bring together Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) faculty and staff, policy leaders, and community leaders to promote research and programmatic collaborations that are respectful of the needs, cultural identity and interests of the Latino population while removing barriers, according to a news release. Indiana's Latino population has grown from 1.8% in 1990 to 3.5% in 2000, to 6.0% in 2010. The number already had increased further to 6.7% by 2015. "We are all interested in increasing research ...
Not all kids start kindergarten equally prepared to succeed. By a child's third birthday, 85% of their brain is fully developed. Children of migrant workers and Latino children growing up exposed to adverse childhood experiences, such as domestic violence, substance use disorder, neglect, and poverty, as well as limited access to healthy food and safe places to play, are at increased risk for developing physical, mental, behavioral, psychosocial, and/or cognitive issues. High-quality early childhood programs can help level the playing field for Latino children on vocabulary and on social and emotional development. With federal funding, the East Coast Migrant Health Start Project serves 3,145 children annually through 26 Head Start centers in Alabama, Florida, North Carolina, ...
Latinos have made great strides in education in recent years, with more enrolling two- and four-year colleges and universities than ever before. However, there is still a significant gap between Latinos and other racial and ethnic minorities in obtaining college degrees. Education is one of the main determinants of health; the more education you obtain, the better your chances for higher paying jobs, financial stability, upward mobility, and better long-term mental and physical health. Overall, the economy has rebounded from the mid-2000s economic downturn. However, according to a new report by the Federal Reserve, those households that do not have a college degree are struggling more than ever. As reported by Reuters, the annual report serves as “temperature check” on the ...
A growing number of U.S. children may develop vision problems before they reach kindergarten, according to a study, Newsmax reports. Latino children were the most likely group to have vision problems.
Study results
Study researchers examined U.S. census records and eye exams of 12,000 children ages 6 and younger. They estimated that 174,000 U.S. children ages 3-5 had vision impairment as of 2015. That number could grow to more than 220,000 children by 2060. The study also found that Latino kids accounted for 38% of vision impairment cases, compared to 26% among white kids and 25% among black kids. "Researchers estimated [the Latino] proportion would climb [from 38%] to 44% by 2060 aided by higher birth rates in this population relative to other racial and ethnic groups," ...
Attaining an education is one of the key social determinants of health. Education impacts future economic well-being, job growth, and your long-term physical and mental health. Latinos have made great strides in education in the last decade. As of recent reports, the rate of Latino high school dropouts is at an all-time low while rates of graduation are at all-time highs. Latinos are also enrolling in more two- and four-year colleges and universities. While things are looking up, there is still a significant gap in educational attainment between Latinos and other racial and ethnic groups. In order to make an impact on this gap, more colleges and universities are addressing this problem in creative and “outside-the-box” manners. In order to reduce health disparities, it is ...
