Oregon’s Hispanic community raises voice and concerns
Contact:
Chalkboard Project
(503) 542-4325
info@chalkboardproject.org
Chalkboard Focus & Survey Groups Reveal Myriad of Problems but Plentiful Solutions
PORTLAND, Ore. – Early research, completed by the Chalkboard Project reveals Oregon’s largest minority population has numerous and growing concerns about the state’s public schools. Specifically, both a majority of Hispanic parents and Hispanic college age students who participated in recent statewide focus and survey groups told Chalkboard that they feel Oregon schools are doing a neutral job or worse at serving English Language Learner Students. Nearly every one of the parents that Chalkboard talked to did not think there are adequate programs in the schools to offer hope for closing the well-documented achievement gap for Latino students.
“While we are still gathering input from Oregonians all over the state as to how we can improve our public schools, we know that better communication between schools and parents is a necessity, and especially in the Hispanic communities,” said Chalkboard President Sue Hildick. “But as obvious as that might seem, we haven’t made that happen yet.”
Chalkboard’s Hispanic focus and survey groups produced overwhelming complaints about a lack of communication between schools and Hispanic families, with a majority of the participants calling it “poor” or “very poor.” The good news is that the groups offered up plenty of solutions to mitigate this situation, ranging from supporting ethnic literacy by funding book acquisition to swift response to bullying and discrimination.
An unidentified college student mentor associated with the Oregon Council for Hispanic Advancement (OCHA) said “I think the best method [for improving education) is to have better teachers and smaller classrooms, and more teachers that speak different languages.”
OCHA provides educational and workforce development services to Latino children and young adults. The organization has been working with parents and students to help implement these solutions.
“Quite simply, building relationships grounded in trust, respect and cultural sensitivity will enhance parental involvement in the Hispanic community. But that is only part of the solution,” said Steffeni Mendoza Gray, OCHA Executive Director. “The leadership to build these relationships must come from policy makers and school administrators at the highest levels. Without it, Hispanic students with great potential to succeed academically will be thwarted in their desire to build better lives for themselves and their families. OCHA supports Chalkboard’s efforts to reach out to the Hispanic community and help be a partner in determining solutions to address this issue.”
“Clearly the Hispanic community is not short on ideas, and is dedicated to assuring a quality education for their children, ” said Hildick. “We need their full participation in the coming weeks as we move to our public engagement process with New England-style town hall meetings across Oregon. By next spring, we hope to produce key findings for policy makers, educators and community leaders, and are committed to including real and meaningful solutions for the Hispanic community.”
The Hispanic community can already access research reports and focus group summaries by visiting the Chalkboard Project web site at www.chalkboardproject.org. In addition, Spanish-language visitors can learn more about Chalkboard and Frequently Asked Questions thanks to translation services donated by the Salem/Keizer Coalition for Equality.
About Chalkboard Project
Launched in early 2004, Chalkboard Project exists to inspire Oregonians to do what it takes to make the state’s K-12 public schools among the nation’s best, while strengthening our school system’s financial accountability to taxpayers. Chalkboard aims to help create a more informed and engaged public who understand and address the tough choices and trade-offs required to build strong schools, and to enable statewide programs that can be applied at the local level to improve school quality, accountability, and funding. To date, Chalkboard has connected with about 100,000 Oregonians, asking for their best ideas to strengthen the state’s K-12 public schools. It also has partnered with other education organizations to create the Open Book$ Web site www.openbooksproject.org to track school district spending.
Chalkboard – an initiative of Foundations For A Better Oregon – is sponsored by a growing list of independent foundations. The founding five foundations are: The Collins Foundation, The Ford Family Foundation, Jeld-Wen Foundation, Meyer Memorial Trust, and The Oregon Community Foundation. For more information about Chalkboard and to learn how to get involved, call (877) YOUR-K12 or visit www.chalkboardproject.org.
