National Council of La Raza: Topics

Education

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The Latino community consistently rates the education of its children as a top priority. Latino students have made progress over the past decade, but gaps along the educational pipeline still exist. In order to maximize impact, the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) focuses its investment in the areas of early childhood education and high school reform, where the disparity between Latinos and other groups is greatest. NCLR addresses the issue of education through a complementary, two-part approach that includes direct services to community-based organizations as well as advocacy for policy outcomes that will make the nation’s public school system more responsive to the needs of Latino children.

NCLR's programmatic division, housed under its Education Programs Component, provides capacity-building assistance including curriculum, program, and professional development to support and strengthen education programming at the community-based level. The Education Programs Component's capacity-building training and technical assistance model addresses disparities in Hispanic educational achievement by strengthening services and programs operated by more than 100 NCLR Affiliates.

NCLR’s education policy work, housed in the Office of Research, Advocacy, and Legislation, strives to ensure that Latino students, including immigrant and English language learners, enter school ready to learn and graduate from high school with a meaningful diploma at the same rate as their peers. NCLR’s advocacy in early childhood education and high school reform, which is focused principally at the federal level, includes policies and programs such as Head Start, the No Child Left Behind Act, the DREAM Act, and funding for key federal education programs.

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Related Programs

Education Programs: NCLR’s education program services and activities are targeted to the approximately 150 affiliated organizations that provide educational services to the Latino community while NCLR’s education policy work addresses national issues in public education. The organizations Affiliates provide services along each critical stage of the educational “pipeline” – infants and toddlers, school-age students, and adults and parents. NCLR’s program work places a special focus on organizations and programs that serve preschool and high school.
KIDS COUNT - Puerto Rico: The KIDS COUNT Puerto Rico project is an effort to address the information gap in order to improve the health, safety, education, economic security, and development of Puerto Rico's children. By providing policy-makers and citizens with benchmarks of child well-being, KIDS COUNT Puerto Rico seeks to enrich local and national discussions of ways to secure better futures for all our children.
NCLR AmeriCorps: AmeriCorps strengthens communities through projects that address education, public safety, the environment, and other unmet human needs. NCLR AmeriCorps members serve at local nonprofits, public agencies, and faith-based organizations, helping to build a culture of citizenship, service, and responsibility. Through their service, members gain valuable job skills and experience and earn an education award to pursue a college education or pay back student loans.
Secondary Education (SE) Programs: The secondary Education Programs are committed to improving highschools around the country so all students, especially some of those most at risk, are prepared for success in college and work. Targeting the unique needs of Latino and English Language Learner (ELL) students, the Secondary Education Programs work through a network of community-based charter schools and Early College High Schools.
Affiliate Awards Program: The Affiliate Member Services (AMS) administers annually two separate awards for NCLR Affiliates: the Family Strengthening Awards and the Affiliate of the Year Award.
Early Care and Education (ECE) Program: The ECE Team’s purpose is to establish NCLR as the national leader for increasing school readiness of Latino children and improving their potential for life success by ensuring the availability of high-quality developmentally, linguistically, and culturally appropriate services for Latino children from birth to eight years old.

Related Policies

Federal Policies

Children and Immigration Enforcement: NCLR is concerned that the U.S. lacks a comprehensive strategy for protecting children directly affected by immigration enforcement activities. We advocate for the adoption of new immigration enforcement policies that consider the impact of immigration activities on families and children.
No Child Left Behind: NCLR supports standards-based reform and policies that increase access to challenging academic coursework for Latino students and provides schools with the resources needed to help Hispanic children, including English language learners, achieve high academic standards.
Federal Education Funding: NCLR supports full funding of the No Child Left Behind Act and other key education-related programs.
Higher Education: NCLR supports policies and initiatives that seek to increase access to and retention in postsecondary education for Latino students.
Early Childhood Education: NCLR supports policies at the federal and state levels, which improve access to and quality of early education programs for Latinos and English language learners.
DREAM Act: The “DREAM Act” is federal legislation that would facilitate state efforts to offer in-state tuition to undocumented students and provide certain students with a path to U.S. citizenship.

State Policies

California: Preschool for All: NCLR supports the development of a Preschool for All program in California, to improve access to and quality of early childhood education programs for Latino and ELL children.