Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google


President Obama To Sign Executive Order on Hispanic Education

President Obama will sign an executive order Tuesday focused on improving educational outcomes for Hispanic students. Education Secretary Arne Duncan spoke with reporters via phone conference Monday afternoon about the initiative. Duncan said the order, called the "White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics," will aim to boost retention rates in high schools for Hispanic students, only about half of whom who start high school are expected to reach graduation.

The initiative will focus on four key areas, Duncan said, including enabling communities to share best practices, strengthening public-private partnerships, establishing an inter-agency working group tasked with addressing retention issues, and ensuring federal programs meet the needs of Hispanic students of all ages.

"For the last decade, Hispanic students have been the biggest minority group in our public schools. They represent almost a quarter, almost 25 percent of our nation's students. To improve our country's education system, we have to improve outcomes for all students, but particularly Hispanic students," Duncan said in the press briefing. "…Hispanic students often face the greatest challenges in the education system. Overall, only 75 percent of our high school freshmen will graduate four years later. For Hispanic students, this is true for only about half, about 50 percent of students. And for those who are lucky enough to graduate and go on to college, many are unable to finish because they're ill-prepared or face financial challenges. … These facts are both economically unsustainable and morally unacceptable."

The initiative is being headed up by Juan Sepúlveda, whose role in the United States Department of Education had been focused on directing similar activities since his appointment in May 2009.

The order is expected to be signed in the East Room of the White House at 10 a.m. PDT/1 p.m. EDT. A live Webcast of the event will be accessible via the White House's site here.

About the Author

David Nagel is the former editorial director of 1105 Media's Education Group and editor-in-chief of THE Journal, STEAM Universe, and Spaces4Learning. A 30-year publishing veteran, Nagel has led or contributed to dozens of technology, art, marketing, media, and business publications.

He can be reached at [email protected]. You can also connect with him on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidrnagel/ .


Featured

  • Students using laptops in classroom

    Stop Asking Whether Students Can Use AI

    As generative AI has become embedded in the tools students use to search, write, create, translate, organize, and receive feedback, the boundary between "using AI" and "not using AI" has become increasingly difficult to define. More importantly, treating AI use as a binary choice does little to help students understand the different roles AI can appropriately play in learning.

  • children using smart phones

    With Little Federal Guidance, States Take on Screen Time Themselves

    As an umbrella term, education technology encompasses everything from learning management systems and student information systems to productivity tools and AI platforms. More specific language clarifying the difference between ed tech and consumer-facing tools would allow state leaders to match the right evidence, expertise, and policy to the right questions.

  • young man hand working on a laptop, bokeh blurred at night

    Redesigned Microsoft Copilot Will Build Apps and Work on Its Own

    Microsoft has announced that it's redesigning Copilot, the company's all-encompassing AI assistant, so users can hand off complex tasks, build tools by describing what they need and assign work to an agent that keeps going after they log off.

  • Abstract Network of Blue and Orange Lines

    Tech Industry Leaders Launch Alliance for AI Agent Security

    NVIDIA and 36 other industry partners are targeting agent security across multi-vendor clouds by combining open technologies for workload identity, agent controls, vulnerability scanning, and software supply-chain security.