Press Release

For Immediate Release
June 24, 2004
Contact: Mary Callahan or Lani Poblete
(202) 955-9450

New National Nonprofit Organization,
Excelencia in Education, Inc. Launched
To Advance Policies & Practices Strengthening Latino Student Achievement

Former White House Initiative Director Sarita Brown Will Lead National Group Focused
on Latino Students in Higher Education

Organization Announces Action Agenda at Pew Hispanic Center Event on June 23, 2004

WASHINGTON, DC – As Latinos have become the fastest-growing and largest minority group in the United States, they are on the verge of making dramatic progress in closing achievement gaps and achieving academic success at the nation’s colleges and universities. A new nonprofit organization – led by a group of prominent educators and corporate officials – was announced June 23, 2004 to advance policies and institutional practices that are effective in bolstering Latino success in higher education.

The group, Excelencia in Education, will provide data-driven analysis on the status of Latino students and what is working to dramatically improve retention and graduation at all levels of higher education. It will build a network of results-oriented educators, including university and community-based professionals, and elected officials, adding value to their individual efforts by building the means and momentum to create a long-term solution to the U.S. economy’s need for a highly educated workforce.

“By focusing on Latino success in higher education, Excelencia in Education provides analysis of the impact of public policy and identifies effective programs. This fills a gap in the current knowledge base,” says Art Ruiz, public affairs director for State Farm Insurance Company, who will be the chair of the new organization.

“No other group focuses on Latino students in higher education and links research, policy, and practice to serve Latino students and the institutions and programs where they participate,” said Sarita Brown, the former executive director of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans and the founder of Excelencia in Education, who will serve as the group’s president.

Speaking today at an event organized by the Pew Hispanic Center, on the report Latino Youth Finishing College: The Role of Selective Pathways, “It is critically important to understand the reasons for the choices Latino student make in pursuit of higher education. And what policymakers and institutional leaders can do to so that greater numbers of Latino students graduate from college.”

Beside Brown and Ruiz, the group’s board also includes Norma E. Cantύ, professor of English at the University of Texas at San Antonio, and Reginald Wilson, senior scholar emeritus at the American Council on Education. Deborah Santiago, Irvine Fellow at the University of Southern California, and Hispanic Research Scholar at the Educational Testing Service, will be a principal in the new group. Margarita Benítez, who oversaw the federal Title V program for Hispanic Serving Institutions, will chair Excelencia’s Working Group on Effective Practices for Latino Student Success.

Specifically, Excelencia will:

• Identify, analyze, and disseminate information on effective higher education practices for Latinos;
• Analyze the impact of federal, state, and institutional policies on Latino achievement in higher education;
• Focus efforts on assisting policymakers, higher education administrators, and other stakeholders to expand and improve opportunities for Latino students to succeed in postsecondary education;
• Cultivate strategic partnerships and expand the national discourse through the Excelencia network of practitioners, researchers, educators, nonprofit organizations, and policymakers;
• Develop, document, and evaluate demonstration projects and other programs to support the application of effective practices in public policy and in education institutions.

For more information, visit the organization’s Web site, www.EdExcelencia.org or contact
Mary Callahan or Lani Poblete at (202) 955-9450.

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