WASHINGTON — Excelencia in Education, the only national initiative to honor programs boosting Latino academic achievement in higher education, celebrated success on several levels Wednesday at its eighth annual national conference.
The nonprofit organization cited three programs as standouts for 2013, one in each of the associate, baccalaureate and graduate levels.
Canada College of Redwood City, Calif., won on the associate level for the results of a program called “Math Jam” that addresses the low levels of math preparation among underrepresented students studying STEM (science, technology, engineering , math). This program allows students to test out of math courses and further strengthens student engagement and course success rates in other coursework. According to project director Danni Redding Lapuz, “Sixty-two percent of students who tested into remedial courses jumped to the next level math course or higher” once the Math Jam program was completed.
The baccalaureate award was given to the University of Texas at Brownsville for their Student Employment Initiative (SEI). Workshop panelist and program director, Juan Andres Rodriguez explained to an onslaught of eager attendees that “this program can be replicated at any university.” SEI provides on-campus paid internships beyond traditional work-study programs. Since 2005, the average time to graduate has been reduced from 5.71 years to 4.16 for the 2011-2012 academic year.
The graduate award went to the University of Texas Pan American in conjunction with the University of Texas at Austin for their cooperative doctoral program in pharmacy. Students from the Rio Grande Valley and Laredo regions of south Texas are encouraged to pursue a career in pharmacy in hopes that graduates will put their education to work in those areas. Another workshop panelist and director of the program, Dr. Lydia Aguilera, expressed that the key to student success in this program is “parental and family involvement.” Eighty-one percent of alumni have stayed to work in this area and 100 percent of students have passed board licensure exams on the first attempt for the past two years. Several finalists and honorable mentions were also recognized.
In accompanying panel discussions and workshops, a network of results-driven educators and policymakers shared their experiences and evidence-based best practices.
