THE WHITE HOUSE AT WORK
Thursday, June 15,
2000
THE CLINTON-GORE ADMINISTRATION:
EXPANDING EDUCATION
OPPORTUNITIES FOR HISPANIC AMERICANS
Today, at the White House, President Clinton hosted a White House
Strategy Session on Improving Hispanic Student Achievement.At the day-long
session, educators and leaders from the public, private and non-profit sectors
discussed the need for a national effort to close the achievement gap between
Hispanic students and their peers. The President released a report documenting
the achievement gap, called for a national commitment to five major goals aimed
at improving Hispanic achievement, and unveiled several public- and
private-sector commitments targeted to reaching those goals over the next
decade. The President also noted that progress toward closing the achievement
gap would be threatened by the education spending bill passed in the House
yesterday which fails to fund the President's Hispanic Education Action Plan
and other critical education measures.
Highlighting the Need to Boost Hispanic Student Achievement.
Today's strategy session focused on the importance of raising the academic
achievement of Hispanics – our nation's fastest growing population group.
The President released a report by his Council of Economic Advisers,
Educational Attainment and Success in the New Economy: An Analysis of
Challenges for Improving Hispanic Students' Achievement, which documents the
achievement gap between Hispanics and their peers and the importance of
educational achievement in the new economy. The report illustrates that, in
spite of progress that has been made over the last several decades, troubling
gaps exist between Latino students and their peers at all levels.
Challenging the Nation to Reach Key Goals. The President
announced five major goals for improving Hispanic student achievement, and
challenged the nation to achieve them by 2010:
- Increasing access to quality early childhood education;
- Ensuring that Hispanic students achieve English language
proficiency;
- Eliminating the achievement gap on state assessments;
- Increasing the rate of high school completion; and
- Doubling the rate of college completion.
At the strategy session, Education Secretary Riley released the
first of what will become an annual measure of progress toward achieving the
President's five goals.
Announcing Commitments to Support Hispanic Achievement. The
President unveiled several commitments by the private and public sectors in
support of his Latino achievement agenda, including:
- The 2010 Alliance, a partnership of corporate, foundation and
community leaders committed to providing resources to reach the President's
goals by 2010;
- Internship programs for Latino students with the federal
government and private-sector companies;
- Outreach campaigns by the federal government, Procter &
Gamble, the Discovery Channel, and others; and
- A partnership between Lightspan and HUD to close the digital
divide by providing educational technology resources for the residents in
Hispanic communities.
Continuing a Commitment to Education. The President's FY 2001
budget continues its investment in programs that improve the educational
achievement of Hispanic Americans, with an $823 million increase for programs
that are part of the Hispanic Education Action Plan. Unfortunately, in this
year's appropriations bills, the House underfunds this plan by more than $650
million, and the Senate falls more than $200 million short of the President's
budget request. President Clinton reiterated his threat to veto the education
spending bill passed by the House yesterday, which also fails to strengthen
accountability and turn around failing schools, reduce class size, fund
emergency repairs and renovation of aging schools, sufficiently expand
after-school opportunities, help prepare low-income students for college
through GEAR-UP, fund programs to improve teacher quality, help bridge the
digital divide, and adequately fund child care and investments in Head Start.
|
