Valencia Community College hosted the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans, a “Community Conversation,” on Wed., Sept. 23 attended by approximately 100 people.

The public forum led by Juan Sepulveda, director of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans, is part of a nationwide tour, including stops this week in Tampa, Miami and Puerto Rico.            

Sepulveda outlined President Barack Obama’s ambitious goals for improving all facets of education in the U.S. from pre-kindergarten through elementary, middle school, high school and colleges.   Among them is the recently announced $4.35 billion “Race to the Top” initiative that challenges states to redesign education to meet the demands of a global economy and return America to the top of the world’s producers of college graduates.   

“This is our moon shot,” said Sepulveda of the ambitious project.  “We’re in a unique point in history and our president is committing to the largest investment in education ever made.” 

Among the efforts specifically impacting community colleges, the U.S. Dept. of Education will increase individual Pell Grant awards to $5,500; eliminate the costly middle layer in student loans resulting in the availability $6 billion more for low-interest loans; and dramatically streamline financial aid forms. Overall, President Obama has proposed an investment of $12 billion in community colleges over the next decade.    

The attendees were invited to share their concerns and ideas on the issues facing Hispanics in attaining an education, including lack of parental involvement, language barriers, college affordability and funding constraints that limit access.   

Valencia’s service to the Hispanic community is noteworthy in the following ways: 

• Valencia is more ethnically and racially diverse than at any time in its 42-year history, with Hispanics accounting for almost 27 percent of the 50,000 degree-seeking students. 
• Because enrollment exceeds 25 percent Hispanic with more than half of those considered low income, Valencia was formally designated in 2009 as an Hispanic Serving Institution by the U.S. Dept. of Education.  
• Valencia ranks 3^rd among the nation’s two-year institutions for the number of associate degrees awarded to Hispanics (up from 5^th in 2008).
• Valencia has long-term assessment results that show a reduction in academic achievement gaps across racial and ethnic groups, particularly among Caucasian and Hispanic students. In a study involving 34,000 students over four years that was undertaken as part of a national initiative called Achieving the Dream, Valencia has sought to improve the success rates of students in six courses that a majority of students must take and in which many have traditionally struggled. As a result of this work, achievement gaps between African American and Caucasian students narrowed from 13.4 percent in 2004 to 3.6 percent in 2008. Gaps between Hispanic and Caucasian students saw an even more dramatic shift, with Hispanics lagging by 1.8 percent in 2004, and four years later, surpassing their Caucasian counterparts by 4 percent. These results were largely due to three strategies employed as part of the ATD initiative to improve student performance: peer tutoring, linked courses, and mandated enrollment in a Student Success course for those who were required to take development math, reading or writing.
• The College has won two national awards in 2009 as a result of its focus on identifying and closing achievement gaps: a grant in the amount of $733,333 from MDC., Inc., a grantee of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, to boost the college completion rates of low-income students and students of color, and the national Leah Meyer Austin Institutional Student Success Leadership Award presented by the Lumina Foundation for Education.
  

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