Latino Educational Attainment (LEA) Initiative

Needs Assessment and Background 2 1. Latinos represent 44% or approximately 230,000 K-12 students 2. Only 50% of Latino students graduate in four years (Nationwide data) 3. Only 1 in 6 students is ready to attend a four year college in OC 4. Disaggregated data shows that the Latino subgroup has the lowest academic performance in Orange County 5. In 2005, there are 106 low performance schools in Orange County. School districts like Santa Ana are considered Program Improvement. 6. Orange County Business Council stated the need for a “Call to Action” regarding Latino achievement in their annual meeting (Oct 2006)

Partners 3 OC Business Council OC Register OC Department of Education California State University, Fullerton Santa Ana College Federal Empowerment Zone Several non-profits Community groups in neighborhoods Local schools and several school districts

LEA Initiative Key Goals 4 Help parents be better advocates for their children “Good gossip” Neighborhood based; focused on parents Leverage existing resources in neighborhoods around the 106 lowest performing schools 10 Educational Commandments for Parents Guides, bookmarks, refrigerator magnets, educomics (educational comic books) Developmental Assets Guide for Parents based on the 40 developmental assets framework

Progress as of neighborhood coalitions across the county. Trained more than 10,000 parents on the Ten Education Commandments for Parents. Printed 20,000 guides. Available in four languages – English, Spanish, Vietnamese and Korean. Printed and distributed thousands of bookmarks and refrigerator magnets. Printed 30,000 Educomics (comic books). New parent “product” based on the 40 developmental assets

Program Evaluation 6 7,000 Parents were trained in the Ten Educational Commandments for Parents A sample of 116 parents Representing: Anaheim, Garden Grove, Mission Viejo, San Juan Capistrano, Santa Ana, Westminster Completed 2,500 pre-test and post-test in 2006 and California State University, Fullerton published a report with statistically significant findings Results show a significant improvement in parents’ knowledge and behavior towards their children’s education

Four Key findings 7 1. Increase importance of parents’ role in their child’s education 2. Increase knowledge on how to monitor grades, read report cards, compute GPA 3. Increase knowledge on financial aid opportunities, meeting deadlines and completing forms 4. Increase knowledge on high school advance placement classes, credits needed for graduation, requisites to attend college and pass the CHSEE.

What’s next 8 Secure financial stability Build coalitions in more neighborhoods Provide parents more help once the coalitions are built and are self-sustaining Conduct a longitudinal study to compare the efficiency of parent involvement Develop materials for teachers on how to work with parents

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