mrivera's blog

Deb SantiagoFinding Excelencia

Deborah A. Santiago, Vice President of Policy and Research of Excelencia in Education, explores the issues, strengths, and challenges for Latinos in higher education.

Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month (Part 1)

It is the first week of Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept. 16-Oct. 15) and this time of year is always packed with activities. There are galas, award ceremonies, and workshops. I attended a few and also received multiple invitations to events that recognize/celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with workshops on cooking and dancing. The events invite participants to: "Learn to dance salsa!" "Try Latin food!" "Taste tequila!"

While galas, award ceremonies, and workshops are wonderful celebrations of our contributions as a community, there are too few events during Hispanic Heritage Month focused on educating the broader public about the critical role Latino communities have played in the advocacy for a quality education for all in the United States and the impact those contributions have on every American today.Read more

Recommendation Engines

Several recent studies have shown too many Latino students are "undermatched." These students are enrolling in institutions with lower levels of selectivity than the researchers would presume is the student's potential. Interesting phenomenon, although not completely surprising given the increasing costs and geographic limitations many students are reacting to today.

College choices. There are so many choices to make in our daily lives, it can be paralyzing. There are more than 4,000 institutions in the country, ranging from degree-granting to non-degree granting, from public to private, from for-profit to non-profit, from online to campus-based, and from associate degree-granting to doctorate degree-granting. And these diverse options multiply exponentially the more informed a student tries to become. It's no wonder young people today struggle to understand the complexities in identifying whether an institution is a "good fit" for them.

So, how about an "outside the box" idea? Have you ever listened to music using Pandora? Or bought books on Amazon? Or rented movies from Netflix? What all of these services have in common is their function as recommendation engines.Read more

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