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AT THE HERALD, A SUGAR-COATED SOFTBALL FOR JULIET
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<div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; "><div><div style="font-style: normal; ">By <b>Juan Montoya</b></div><div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; ">It seemed to good to be true.</div><div style="font-weight: normal; ">A Washington D.C. think-tank billing itself as a "<span style="font-size: 100%; ">not-for-profit organization," <i>Excelencia</i>, rated Rio Grande Valley colleges (and universities?) among the top institutions in graduating Hispanic students.</span></div><div style="font-weight: normal; "><span style="font-size: 100%; "><i>Excelenci</i>a, whose report "Finding Your Workforce," was released with much fanfare and local coverage by the local daily who trotted out the usual suspects mouthing the sweet nothings and platitudes about their "achievement" being a "testament to the hunger for education in our region."</span></div><div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; "><span style="font-size: 100%; ">That was UTB-TSC president Juliet Garcia, who has racked a dismal track record after 20 years at the helm of that hybrid institution. But, before you judge her on the 17 percent graduation rate over six years, the less than 50 percent freshman retention rate, or even the zero graduation rate over four years, the newspaper report states that that's not what the study was measuring.</span></div><div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; "><span style="font-size: 100%; ">The writers of Excelencia, who state up front that they are "</span><span style="font-size: 100%; ">building a network of </span><span style="font-size: 100%; ">results-oriented educators and policymakers to address the U.S. economy’s need </span><span style="font-size: 100%; ">for a highly educated workforce and for civic leadership," say that the characteristics of the Latino population apply across the country.</span></div><div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; "><span style="font-size: 100%; ">"</span><span style="font-size: 100%; ">Latinos are making progress in college attainment and </span><span style="font-size: 100%; ">workforce participation," they said. "They have the fastest growth in </span><span style="font-size: 100%; ">postsecondary enrollment and completion, and their labor </span><span style="font-size: 100%; ">force participation is the highest of any group. However, as </span><span style="font-size: 100%; ">long as the Latino educational attainment gap remains and </span><span style="font-size: 100%; ">labor force participation tends to be concentrated in lower </span><span style="font-size: 100%; ">paying jobs there is more work to be done."</span></div></div></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; ">Then, the caveat: "<span style="font-size: 100%; ">The data and analysis in this series does not speak to the </span><span style="font-size: 100%; ">quality of the postsecondary education nor address the </span><span style="font-size: 100%; ">productivity of higher education through metrics such as </span><span style="font-size: 100%; ">graduation rates."</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; "><span style="font-size: 100%; ">Then the story goes on to point out that UTB (Not TSC?How can one be and not the other since they are, apparently, a "partnership?") ranked eighth among the 25 top institutions awarding associate degrees and next-to-last (24th) in awarding bachelor's degrees.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; "><span style="font-size: 100%; ">The statistics in the report speak to the sad state of affairs in Hispanics' secondary education, the slights gains from 2001 to 2011 notwithstanding.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; "><span style="font-size: 100%; ">"</span>Recent Census data show Latino adults’ educational attainment over the past decade (2001 to 2011) increased overall (from 11 to 14 percent) and the number of Hispanics with a bachelor degree or higher increased 80 percent (from 2.1 million to 3.8 million). </div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; ">"However, educational attainment gaps remain. Only 21 percent of Hispanics had an associate degree or higher, compared to 57 percent of Asians, 44 percent of Whites, and 30 percent of Blacks. Further, in <span >2009-10, Hispanics represented 13 percent of students </span>enrolled in postsecondary education and earned 10 percent of certificates and degrees awarded."</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; ">In the Herald article, the reporter quoted Garcia saying Hispanics will comprise about 75 percent of the nation's workforce, one of the findings stated in the Excelencia report.</div><div><span ><span style="font-size: 100%;">"</span>Hispanics are projected to account for 75 percent of the </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; ">growth in the nation’s labor force between 2010 and 2020," the report states.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; ">"Among people age 25 and older, only about 69 percent of Hispanics in the labor force had completed high school compared to 90 percent of Whites, Blacks, and Asians in the labor force."</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; ">The reading of UTB's ranking is, to put it kindly, very charitable to Juliet's UTB.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; ">It doesn't rank among the top categories in certificates awarded with less than one year of study. However, Kaplan College, in Brownsville, did. It awarded 440 of 460 certificates to Hispanics (96 percent).</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "> And UTB didn't cut the mustard in the category of certificates of more than one year but less than two-year course of study. South Texas College did. It awarded 507 out of 542 certificates to Hispanics (94 percent).</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; ">Neither did it rank among the top 25 in the awarding of masters' or doctorate degrees, nor among the top in awarding first professional degrees awarded to Hispanics.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; ">However, Garcia assured the Herald readers that once the UTB and TSC separate, that should "help narrow the gap in the educational attainment of Hispanics."</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; "><span style="font-size: 100%; "></span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6016803033174468094-9126072923478136667?l=rrunrrun.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
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