EthnicMajority

(Washington Post) A group of researchers has found that minority students in community colleges tend to perform better when they’re taught by minority instructors — particularly those of similar race or ethnicity. In a new working paper for the National Bureau of Economic Research, three economists explain how the minority performance gap narrows: According to their research at California’s De Anza College, one of the biggest community colleges in the United States, black, Hispanic, Asian and Native American students are 2.9 percent more likely to pass courses with instructors of a similar racial or ethnic background. They elaborate:

We find that the performance gap in terms of class dropout and pass rates between white and minority students falls by roughly half when taught by a minority instructor. In models that allow for a full set of ethnic and racial interactions between students and instructors, we find African-American students perform particularly better when taught by African-American instructors. . . . The class dropout rate relative to Whites is 6 percentage points lower for Black students when taught by a Black instructor. Conditional on completing the course, the relative fraction attaining a B-average or greater is 13 percentage points higher.

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(Seattle Times) Alabama's strict new immigration law may be backfiring. Intended to force illegal workers out of jobs, it is also driving away many construction workers, roofers and field hands here legally who do backbreaking jobs that Americans generally won't.

The vacancies have created a void that will surely deal a blow to the state's economy and could slow the rebuilding of Tuscaloosa and other tornado-damaged cities.

Employers believe they can carry on because of the dismal economy, but when things do turn around, they worry there won't be anyone around to hire.

Many legal Hispanic workers are fleeing the state because their family and friends don't have the proper papers and they fear they will be jailed.

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(Gadsden Times) The federal government asked an appeals court Friday to stop Alabama officials from enforcing a strict immigration law that has already driven Hispanic students from public schools and migrant workers from towns, warning that it opens the door to discrimination against even legal residents.

The Department of Justice's filing to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also said the law, considered by many to be the most stringent immigration measure in the country, could cause considerable fallout as immigrants flee to other states or their native countries.

A coalition of advocacy groups also filed a separate appeal Friday that claims the law has thrown Alabama into “chaos” and left some Hispanics too afraid to go to their jobs and reluctant to send their kids to school.

The court signaled in an order Friday that it wouldn't decide whether to halt the law until it reviews more arguments from both sides next week. The state must file a brief by Tuesday, and the government must respond by Wednesday. After that, the court could decide whether to intervene by issuing a preliminary injunction.

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(Examiner.com) On Friday, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced the award of $24,601,758 to 62 colleges to enhance their capacity to serve low and middle-income African American students.  Two Md. institutions of higher learning are among the grant recipients.

"These grants will help build the capacity of colleges that educate large numbers of African American students," Duncan said, "Strengthening these schools is critically important to increasing student completion and meeting President Obama's goal of being first in the world in college graduates by 2020."

Colleges are receiving funds under two programs that both support predominantly black institutions with an undergraduate enrollment that is at least 40 percent African American and at least 50 percent low-income or first-generation college students.

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(Mobile Press-Register) Many of the 223 Hispanic students at Foley Elementary came to school Thursday crying and afraid, said Principal Bill Lawrence. 

Nineteen of them withdrew, and another 39 were absent, Lawrence said, the day after a federal judge upheld much of Alabama’s strict new immigration law, which authorizes law enforcement to detain people suspected of not being U.S. citizens and requires schools to ask new enrollees for a copy of their birth certificate. 

Even more of the students – who are U.S. citizens by birth, but their parents may not be – were expected to leave the state over the weekend, Lawrence said. 

"It’s been a challenging day, an emotional day. My children have been in tears today. They’re afraid," he said. "We have been in crisis-management mode, trying to help our children get over this."

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(PRNewswire) Despite an important demographic shift across the United States, a limited proportion of Latinos are earning college degrees. While Latino youth now represent the largest minority group in K—12 U.S. schools and are the fastest-growing segment of students, Latino college completion stands at just 19.2 percent – far below the national average of 41.1 percent.  

These are just some of the findings from a new report released today by the College Board Advocacy & Policy Center at an event at Miami Dade College (MDC), the institution of higher education awarding more degrees to minorities than any other in the U.S. College Board President and former West Virginia Gov. Gaston Caperton, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and MDC President Dr. Eduardo J. Padron were on-hand to discuss this critical issue. The College Completion Agenda Progress Report 2011: Latino Edition and The College Completion Agenda Progress Report 2011:  State Policy Guide – developed in collaboration with the National Council of La Raza and Excelencia in Education – are especially relevant given the need for these students to obtain postsecondary degrees if our nation is to thrive socially and economically.

"We have a challenge as a nation to become number one again in college completion. We cannot reach this goal without increasing the college completion rate of Latinos," said Gaston Caperton, president of the College Board.  "This study demonstrates that our students' ability to succeed directly impacts our nation's ability to thrive economically and socially."

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(Washington Post) As he seeks to rekindle support among Hispanic voters, President Obama pushed back Wednesday against criticism over his administration’s deportation policies for illegal immigrants.

Obama was asked several tough questions about his administration’s performance during a roundtable forum with Latino reporters sponsored by HuffPost LatinoVoices and AOL Latino.

Eventually, the president grew frustrated when Gabriel Lerner, an editor at Huffington Post, asked a question that had been submitted by an AOL user from New York City who wondered about the slow progress on the DREAM Act.

That proposal, which as not passed Congress, would provide conditional permanent residency to illegal immigrant students who graduate from U.S. schools and fulfill other requirements.

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(Huffington Post) Earlier this year, I was invited by Mayor Villaraigosa's office to attend LA's Best Hosted a Panel Discussion Event with U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan at the Edward R. Roybal Learning Center in Los Angeles in support of the TEACH.org campaign that is focused on inspiring people of color (and in particular Latinos) to consider teaching as a profession. Panelists also included Los Angeles, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, John Legend, Oscar de la Hoya and others.

While the panel discussion was inspiring, it was quite disappointing to watch Secretary Duncan struggle to answer questions from Latino high school students who wanted to hear the honest truth about their future. Instead, these students heard a confused, unacculturated leader who was disconnected with the realities of what Hispanics are faced with in the US. It was clear that Secretary Duncan lacked an understanding of the pain that Latinos are feeling in their schools, in society and in the workplace. But he is not totally at fault. Our own Hispanic community has not been effective at educating our government leaders. Secretary Duncan's lack of understanding is the same that exists amongst C-Level executives in America's Corporations.

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(SFGate) UC Berkeley student senators voted Sunday to condemn discriminatory behavior on campus – even if done in satire – in response to a Republican student group's plans for an "Increase Diversity Bake Sale," with pastries labeled according to race and gender.

The 19-0 vote, with one absence, came during a special meeting of the Associated Students of the University of California, as the debate over affirmative action reignited in Berkeley.

"Sure, it came off as discrimination," said Francisco Loayza IV, the treasurer of the Republican group, at Sunday's meeting. "People are being judged by their skin color (in affirmative action policies). I don't want to be judged because I'm brown. Look past the prices, and see what we're trying to do."

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(Newser) "White/Caucasian" pastries: $2. "Black/African American" pastries: 75 cents. "Native American" pastries: only a quarter. Such is the pricing scheme for a sarcastic "Increase Diversity Bake Sale" posted on Facebook by a Republican group at UC Berkeley, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. Planned for Tuesday, the sale has sparked anger on campus for its snarky opposition to a bill that would let California universities consider ethnicity in student admissions. "If you don't come, you're a racist," the post says.

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