by Edward J. Mc. Elroy
As a former social studies teacher, I am always amazed at how a nation’s history repeats itself and how many among us fail to acknowledge it. Take the United States at the turn of the 20th century. That’s when our country experienced one of its major influxes of newcomers. Waves of immigrants made their way to our shores. Soon, many of the children enrolled in ourpublic schools had come from such faraway places as Italy, Poland and Russia.
Through it all, U.S. public school met the challenges that come with serving diverse student bodies. Indeed, our nation prospered and became stronger because of it.
Turn the clock forward a hundred years. Our public schools are again being asked to meet the challenges that come with a rapidly growing and diverse population. Granted, the majority of today’s public school students are U.S.-born, but an increasing number of them have family roots in Latin America — countries like Mexico, the Dominican Republic and El Salvador — and elsewhere.
Given the pace of technology and the realities of a dynamic society, the needs of these students are just as pressing as those of their early 20th-century counterparts. Meeting those needs must remain a top priority. We have been here before and we rose to the task. We must do so again.
Thirty years ago, Latino students comprised a relatively modest percentage of this country’s pre-K through 12th-grade student population. By 2005, one out of every five of our public school students was Latino. By 2025, Latinos are expected to account for one-quarter of our school-age population. These are immensely important figures, which portend not just new challenges, but, just as in the early 20th century, new op6portunities for tomorrow.
Despite some signs of academic progress, educational indicators for Latino students continue to lag. Latinos have lower than average rates of academic achievement and some of the lowest college enrollment and post-secondary attainment levels. They also have some of the highest dropout rates in the nation.
Most egregiously, those statistics have remained virtually unchanged for the past 30 years. Without considerable improvements and thoughtful investments, too many of our Latino students will not be adequately prepared to participate fully in our democracy or in the global and technologically advanced economy of the 21st century.
We must improve the educational outcomes for these students. We can do so by focusing on access to well-designed programs that cover the gamut from early childhood through college education.
We also must promote research-based information on effective instruction for culturally and linguistically diverse student populations and implement stronger professional development programs for the teachers and staff who work with these students.
High-quality resources (such as ColorinColorado.org, a free Web site developed by the AFT and the PBS affiliate, WETA) can help focus attention on effective instruction, increasing parental and community outreach, and serving those Latino students who are learning English.
In addition, we should promote adult education and innovative parent involvement programs that focus on collaboration with teachers and other school personnel.
To serve Latino students at all levels, we also should strengthen dropout and gang prevention initiatives, while working with parents and improving student attendance. High-poverty schools should receive more college counselors and provide more information about higher education, financial aid and other post-secondary options.
Finally, we must expand support for federal and state legislation (such as the DREAM Act) that allows undocumented students to attend college.
Ultimately, the implications are as simple as they are significant. Our economy, our infrastructure and our democracy — the continued success of our nation as a whole —rests on the public education system that serves the majority of students in the United States. Latino students, and the education professionals who serve them, are a major part of that system. Our country will not thrive without the active participation of every segment of our society.
Admittedly, shaping a better tomorrow will not be easy. But, working together, we can make success possible for every student. Indeed, we can bring greater prosperity to our entire nation. We’ve done it before.
[The author is president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). Address comments to him care ofjzapata@aft.org. The AFT represents 1.4 million pre-K through 12th-grade teachers; paraprofessionals and other school-related personnel; higher education faculty and professional staff; nurses and healthcare workers; and federal, state and local government employees.] © 2007
