Our country's most precious resource is our human capital. In today's knowledge-driven economy, a college degree is critical to the success of a competitive workforce. Yet in 2008, only 19 percent of Hispanics, 39 percent of whites, 29 percent of blacks, and 59 percent of Asians 25 years and older had earned an associate degree or higher. In July 2009 Excelencia in Education began work on a new multi-year project, with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, to address this urgent challenge.
In the spring of 2010, Excelencia will convene key stakeholders from around the country to develop consensus on measures, tactics, and strategies to increase Latino degree completion, and begin developing a policy roadmap for reaching shared goals. Moving forward, Excelencia will identify successful policies and practices, and create an outreach plan to encourage the expansion and replication of these policies and practices around the country.
Read June 16, 2009 Press Release from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
