ENLACE Leadership Institute
Educational Policy Report
Document Released in 2007
Latino Educational Pipeline Six Gap Analysis
“Closing the Educational Gap at Every Stage”
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
There is a swelling tide of opportunity approaching the City of Chicago, the State of Illinois and America itself. This wave of young men and women represent the fastest growing segment of the general population and the fastest growing segment of the nation’s college-age population (ages 18-25). With a total population approaching 40 million, Latinos will constitute one-fifth of the nation’s workforce by 2025 and one-fourth of the nation’s school-age population.
Latino students, however, have the nation's highest dropout rates, and barely half of adults have high school diplomas. Only two percent of all doctorates in the United States are awarded to Latinos. Current educational approaches generally target specific parts of the K-12 pipeline and are disconnected from each other. Further, students often are seen as problems–not resources–and the assets of community and culture are discounted.
Can we afford to ignore their educational preparation and fail to encourage the most valued contributions possible to America’s economy and intellectual infrastructure? The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education Center projects that the average education level of the American workforce will actually be lower by 2020 than today if current education trends continue. The Center estimates that if every state were to close the educational gaps between its white and minority youths, we would see 1.2 million additional students enrolled in higher education programs each year, and we would produce 24.5 million more college graduates by 2020. It is in our nation’s best interest in order to maintain our global competitive advantage that we act on this issue now – efficiently, effectively and comprehensively.
ENLACE is an acronym for ENgaging LAtino Communities for Education. In Spanish, ENLACE means to "link" or "weave." ENLACE is a nationwide initiative created to increase higher education participation and completion opportunities for Latino/Hispanic students by linking colleges, schools, and communities to ensure success from kindergarten through college. These collaborations link the resources of partners–students, colleges, K-12 schools, businesses, families, and communities–to focus community-wide attention on increasing high school and college graduation rates. The six-year, $28 million effort was funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and Houston Endowment Inc. In all, 13 projects in seven states received grants to implement community plans designed to promote Latino academic achievement.
In 2001, Northeastern Illinois University was awarded an ENLACE multi-year grant from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation to support the formation of a community-education partnership to strengthen the educational pathway for Latino students. Northeastern Illinois University, the only public four-year university in Illinois designated by the federal government as a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI), is a comprehensive state university serving over 12,000 commuter students. The University’s Latino undergraduate enrollment is nearing 30 percent. As the most ethnically diverse university in the Midwest (U.S. News & World Report, “America’s Best Colleges,” 1997-2006), Northeastern Illinois University has gained a strong reputation as a university with outstanding community involvement.
The goal of the Chicago ENLACE Partnership has been to increase opportunities for Latinas and Latinos to enter and complete college and to foster academic success of Latino students from K-20. Created with the input and involvement of a vast array of the community, the Chicago ENLACE Partnership attempted to engage its community partners including middle schools, high schools (including alternative schools) and community agencies in all aspects of its work. It is this commitment by the whole community that will ultimately carry the success of young Latino students from K-20 provided they have the resources to do so.
During the planning year (2000), the Chicago ENLACE Partnership (CEP) conducted a “gap analysis” in an effort to identify critical problem areas in the educational pipeline (K-20) that have prevented Latino students from progressing on to college and completing their undergraduate and graduate education. From more than 60 focus groups of high school and college students, middle school through college faculty and administrators, and other community stakeholders, six critical gaps in the pipeline were identified. They were:
GAP 1
Transition from Middle to High School (Grades 8 to 9)
GAP 2
Transition from Sophomore to Junior (Grades 10 to 11)
GAP 3
Transition of Truants, Drop Outs or Push Outs from High School to Alternative School
GAP 4
Transition from Acceptance to Enrollment in a Post Secondary Program
GAP 5
Referral and Transition Between 2- and 4-Year Post Secondary Institutions
GAP 6
Retention of College Students at 2- and 4-Year Institutions
Once the gaps were clearly described, the newly formed Policy Committee initiated a new series of working focus groups given the task of seeking solutions to the many challenges posed by each gap. The total dedication by as many as forty individuals from education, civic groups and private industry had meetings over a five year period resulting in a recommendation of a number of sound solutions for bridging each gap.
The following report drafted from a deliberately paced five year period address these gaps in the educational pipeline for Latino student success and the policy opportunities that CEP believes are inherent in order to sustain the progress that was achieved in the first five years of the Chicago ENLACE Partnership.
Each gap has been broken down into:
- Policy Opportunities
- What are the policy issues identified from the gap analysis?
- Policy Change Objectives
- What are the outcomes that we would like to see that would resolve the issues?
- Policy Vehicles
- Who should be involved in these outcome changes?
- Strategies
- How are we going to achieve system change and who will lead each strategy to reach comprehensive objectives?
The Chicago ENLACE Partnership provided outreach to more than 19,000 undergraduate, high school, middle school students, families and other stakeholders. ENLACE Peer Mentors made 139 presentations at sites representing four counties where over 4,500 students attended those presentations. Thirty college visits were sponsored at four colleges/universities where over 1,500 students attended and forty-five parent workshops were conducted with over 1,300 parents attending. This community-wide effort is indication of the power of people coming together to address a critical need and focus attention on the success of young people which, in turn, will mean that our city, our region, and our country will be more successful. We want this to continue.
Policy change cannot happen without primary policy makers actively involved. These include organizational, regulatory, fiscal, and legislative. The policy makers are at all levels from community-based organizations, local public schools and the City to the legislative bodies which provide leadership for our state and country. They represent all facets of our society including philanthropic entities, corporations, professional associations, civic groups, businesses, community colleges and universities. All must take a step forward together.
The Chicago ENLACE Partnership (CEP) plans to create an ENLACE Leadership Institute that will sustain the ENLACE initiative in Illinois - taking it to scale by institutionalizing and helping to expand those things that worked as well as providing assistance to other institutions in Illinois and in other states that wish to initiate similar programs. The creation of an Institute also will enable partners to continue to engage in more extensive policy advocacy and collaborate on new projects. The ENLACE Leadership Institute will continue its policy advocacy work and follow through with efforts to modify educational policies and practices that have hampered Latino educational attainment. The ENLACE Leadership Institute efforts will include a variety of structures and activities such as:
- Leadership Development Program
Continuing the ENLACE and ELI Fellows Program which addresses the critical shortage of Latino faculty and staff at colleges and universities in the State of Illinois - Technical Assistance
Developing and strengthening community engagement, support, and capacity in Latino communities around achieving higher education; Assisting in creating partnerships that work with strategic intervention and realistic expectations and outcomes - Convening
Governmental, Educational, Community Leadership, Private Sector and Philanthropic Partners for Learning Forums and Highlight Model Programs - Public Policy Advocacy
Supporting action research projects around policies and cultural issues that hamper educational success for Latinos - Information Dissemination
Sharing information about new and better methods to achieve better educational outcomes through a variety of media and venues - Sustaining Change
Through partnerships & institutionalization of best practices
You will see in the following report that the ENLACE Leadership Institute intends to directly impact each of the ‘6 Gaps in the Latino Educational Pipeline’ within one or more of the strategies for change. However, the ENLACE Leadership Institute cannot do the work alone nor do we want to. This is our call of action to you – join us in weaving together the talent, skills and potential of our Latino youth with the resources available in the broader community in a way that creates a successful future for us all. The Chicago ENLACE Partnership hopes that each reader will see a role for themselves in the following strategies for continued implementation and replication of this groundswell of educational and community change.
Santos Rivera, PhD
Director
ENLACE Leadership Institute
Northeastern Illinois University
2007