School Helps Latino Kids Graduate, Succeed at Next Level

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Woodburn High School is an institution that faces unique challenges.

Located in Woodburn, Ore. (56.05% Latino population), just south of Portland, the school’s administrators have gone to great lengths for a singular mission: every child must graduate.

“Woodburn is pretty unique in the state of Oregon,” said Mario Garza, the college and career counselor at Woodburn High. “Our population is about 80% to 85% Hispanic—the vast majority being Mexican immigrants or second and third generation Mexican Americans.”

The Woodburn School District has gone to great lengths to support these students.

Beginning in kindergarten, these students receive a full bilingual education. They have broken the campus down into four smaller “schools” to ensure everyone is receiving the education they need.

Health and education are undoubtedly linked. Research from the National Poverty Center has found that better educated people have lower morbidity rates from the most common acute and chronic diseases. For two years in a row, the results at Woodburn and their commitment to education have been staggering. The school has been beating the state’s high school graduation rate by double digits.

“Every teacher and principal on campus is on a mission to make sure that our kids graduate,” Garza said. “And even if they’re not making it the first time, second time, need extra help here—[everyone is] willing to put in the extra work to make those things happen.”

However, data that the school received from the National Student Clearinghouse proved troublesome. Many of Woodburn’s students were going on to college, but a very small number were actually completing their studies and earning bachelor’s degrees.

“Oftentimes it’s ‘I wasn’t comfortable there. It’s not Woodburn. It’s very different,’” said Garza in talking about discussions with former students who did not finish their collegiate studies.

Many, including Garza, felt that Woodburn’s greatest strength was also proving to be its greatest weakness. In a community where the children would be the racial and cultural minority elsewhere in the state of Oregon, at Woodburn they’re the majority. When they leave the confines of the city and school, they enter a vastly different environment.

“Many of our students are not finding that place they can call home,” said Garza. “We’ve seen over the last few years, at least in the data that we have at this point, that a lot of our kids are not succeeding at the level we would want them to in college.”

To combat this trend, the administrators at Woodburn have begun to do even more. The school has started coordinating tours to college campuses across the state. This will allow students to get a sense of what life outside the confines of Woodburn will be like. The goal, ultimately, is to help college-bound students learn how to navigate the campus resources that are available for Latino students before they even get to college. This year, the school will also put on its first-ever pre-orientation orientation.

Read more about the story here.