Why Do a Majority of Latino Students End Up at Two-Year Colleges?

*The problem isn’t getting Latinos to enroll in college, it’s helping them to complete a degree. VL

By Janell Ross, National Journal

In Los Angeles, the announcement last week made for front-of-the-local-section news. Students at gang- and poverty-ridden East Los Angeles’s Garfield High School who meet minimum requirements will now enjoy guaranteed admission to California State University (Los Angeles). The same initiative will also guarantee that students at East L.A. College, a nearby community college, can transfer to Cal State L.A., and the community college will expand its course offerings available to Garfield students.

The partnership between the Los Angeles Board of Education, leadership at Cal State L.A., and East L.A. College aims to create a college-going culture in a section of East Los Angeles where only a tiny share of the overwhelmingly Latino residents have college degrees. Research shows that giving minority high school students opportunities to spend time on college campuses and in classrooms, earn college credits while still in high school, and access mentors and internships—all additional features of the arrangement—makes them more likely to both enter college and graduate.

Click HERE to read the full story.

[Photo courtesy of The Gates Foundation/Flickr]