New Initiative Launched To Combat Chronic Absenteeism
|
Chronic absenteeism remains a significant problem for our nation’s students, and is even more pronounced among low income communities. In order to combat this, the White House and ED have announced two groundbreaking campaigns to address and eliminate chronic student absenteeism in this country: the My Brother’s Keeper (MBK) Success Mentors Initiative -- with 10 initial participating cities -- and a multi-million dollar Ad Council campaign to engage parents on this critical issue. Both campaigns aim to address chronic absenteeism by connecting students with supportive mentors, creating a parent engagement campaign, and providing counselors and educators with tools necessary to help students who are chronically absent from school.
|
Did You Know?
- Five to seven and a half million children miss a month or more of school each year
- Half the high-need students who fall off-track to high school graduation do so in just 65 school districts
- Having a caring adult in school had the largest impact on chronic absenteeism of all – reducing the likelihood of leaving school by 25%.
Learn more by checking out the My Brother's Keeper Task Force recommendations, and find out what you can do to improve educational equity for students of color.
More than 1M Miss Out on Financial Aid Because They Don't Complete FAFSA
Acting Secretary John King highlighted the importance of filling out the FAFSA application to students at Miami Senior High School as part of the school's Town Hall. During his speech, King emphasized how more than one million students miss out on federal financial aid because they fail to complete their FAFSA application, and noted how the largest debt students incur is failing to attend or complete a college education.
ED Enforces Equity For Students With Disabilities
ED proposed a new rule to
improve equity in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) to address disparities among students of color. Students of color are more likely to be identified as having a disability, and
are more likely to face harsher discipline.
In order to combat this, the
proposed Equity in IDEA rule would require states to implement a standard that compares disparities in special education among different racial and ethnic groups.
Schools that exhibit significant disparities would be required to set aside
funds to provide coordinated early intervening services, and revise district
policies to ensure compliance with IDEA.
Summer
Opportunity Project Launches
A study found that last summer nearly 46% of youth who applied for summer jobs were turned down.
Summer opportunities have been shown to divert youth from criminal involvement and reduce overall violence, and they also offer a chance for young people to get their first exposure to the workplace and build financial skills that they can build on throughout their lives. In order to provide these opportunities, agencies in partnership with the National Summer Learning Association and other collaborators are coming together in support of the Summer Opportunity Project, to create a set of supports that enable strong transitions from school year to school year and from high school to college and to create careers by implementing and spreading proven interventions.
Experiences As a First Generation Latina Student
 First generation college students play a critical role in their family's well being, often serving as "relationship brokers" between their family members and government programs. In a commentary for the Harvard Family Research Center, Sylvia Acevedo, chair of the Early Learning Subcommittee on the President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics and graduate of Stanford University, highlights the importance of supporting first generation students in their college decisions, and stresses the need to communicate with and consider the entire family in the college decision process.
|
Every Kid In The
Park
Free Entry Starts September 1, 2016
 The Every Kid in a Park initiative allows fourth graders nationwide to obtain a pass for free entry for them and their families to more than 2,000 federally managed lands and waters nationwide for an entire year. The second year of this annual program will begin on September 1, 2016. Parents, teachers, and community organizations can lead fun, educational outings for kids currently in the 4th grade to any national park, national forest, or other federal land or water site across the country.
|
Fulfilling America's Future
Tracking Progress
On October 2015 the initiative announced 150 Commitments to Action (Commitments) and recognized over 230 Bright Spots in Hispanic Education (Bright Spots) that are supporting and investing in the educational attainment of Hispanics, from cradle-to-career. Recently the Initiative began visiting these organizations to meet the local leaders dedicated to these efforts and to learn about the progress of their commitments.
Texas
The University of Houston-Downtown hosted the Initiative and organizations that answered the call to action from Houston, Texas.
During a celebration hosted by Univision-SanAntonio, San Antonio College and San Antonio Education Partnership, the Initiative recognized Commitments and Bright Spots from the city of San Antonio, Texas.
 During a convening, leaders in the greater Texas area were hosted by the E3 Alliance and the Greater Austin Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Austin, Texas. Read more: Univision; Ahora Si.
Florida
During a “Cafecito” reception, leaders from the greater Miami, FL area were hosted by Frost Museum of Science. Read more: Frost Science.
#LatinosTeach
 Recognizing Alyssa Mireya Molina
Alyssa has taught at San Antonio, Texas and is presently working in the Education Outreach Division at the United States Library of Congress. She has served as a chairperson for FTK, a non-profit organization that helped raise over $40,000 for children and families affected by pediatric cancer.
What do you love about teaching?
"I love teaching because I get to watch the students grow intellectually. Being in a classroom is something I look forward to every day, it allows me to construct a caring, encouraging and creative environment that is conducive to learning."
|
Today, Hispanics are nearly one in four of our public school students, but represent less than one in ten of our teachers. With the #LatinosTeach online campaign, the Initiative features Hispanic teachers to demonstrate that while they are underrepresented, there are many Hispanics who are dedicating themselves to serving their community through teaching.
To learn about the teachers featured, search #LatinosTeach on our Twitter account @HispanicEd or visit our Latino Teacher Recruitment page.
Opportunities
GRANTS
Grants for Native American Youth: ED is tripling—from $5.3 million to $17.4 million—the availability of funding for grants to help Native American youth become college- and career-ready. The extra support is being provided for Native Youth Community Projects (NYCP) as an ongoing step toward implementing President Obama's commitment to improving the lives of American Indian and Alaskan Native children. The grants will support the President's Generation Indigenous "Gen I" Initiative to help Native American youth by working with tribal communities and organizations to identify the best possible approaches for Native American students.
OTHER
2018 World War I American Veterans Centennial Commemorative Coin Design Competition: The United States Mint is pleased to announce a public competition to design the 2018 World War I American Veterans Centennial Silver Dollar. This competition is open to U.S. citizens and permanent residents who are at least 18 years or older.
Phase One: Open from February 29–April 28, 2016.
|
