A Call to Action for Hispanic Academic Achievement
On October 19, I joined government officials, experts in education and Hispanic community leaders as President Obama signed an executive order renewing the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans.
The revised executive order places a high priority on raising Hispanic education attainment at every level – an essential aspect in the United States attaining the ambitious education goals set by the President and ensuring America’s future competitiveness in a global economy. It widens the scope of the prior initiative by increasing partnerships with the private sector and soliciting more input from the community.
The ceremony followed a daylong National Education Summit and Call to Action hosted by the U.S. Department of Education. It brought together Administration officials, experts in education and Hispanic community leaders from around the country on issues ranging from early childhood learning to higher education. They examined how to increase education access for Hispanic Americans, improve their lives and help the nation achieve the highest college attainment rate in the world by 2020.
The forum also connected national Latino education and community leaders to senior Education Department and Obama administration officials. Participants heard from organizers of community-wide education initiatives who are working in partnership with the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics.
In light of the many educational challenges facing the Hispanic community, this was an incredible opportunity to discuss with government officials how SHPE could engage with the Administration to achieve the goals of the Executive Order. There was particular interest how our Ph.D. members could contribute toward innovative solutions.
The White House Initiative was established in September 1990 to provide advice and guidance to the Secretary of Education on education issues related to Hispanics and address academic excellence and opportunities for the Hispanic community. It was subsequently continued by President William J. Clinton and President George W. Bush. Under President Obama, the office is led by Juan Sepulveda who has taken aggressive steps to hear from communities across the country about what works and what doesn’t work and how the Initiative can better serve the Hispanic community.
Details on the summit and signing, including the agenda and speakers are posted at https://sites.google.com/site/nationaleducationsummit/.
