News: Models of Success With Latino Students - Inside Higher Ed: With the Latino population growing, colleges are considering their success -- or lack thereof -- in educating Latino students.
A new report released Wednesday, 'Modeling Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs): Campus Practices that Work for Latino Students,' explores strategies used by institutions with significant Latino enrollments. The report was released by Excelencia in Education and examined six community colleges and six public universities -- in California, New York and Texas.
The report looked at five topics identified to help Latino students succeed and what the 12 institutions were doing in those areas. Some examples:
Community outreach: East Los Angeles College works with students in middle and high schools to teach them math and prepare them for college math.
Academic support: El Camino College set up a First Year Experience Program in which students participate in learning communities (programs in which cohorts take multiple classes together), and also receive help from peer and faculty mentors.
Data use: New York City College of Technology, of the City University of New York, conducted surveys of students and found that many minority students were troubled by a lack of communication with professors and advisers about career goals. The college responded by creating new programs for undeclared majors and revamping career counseling.
