Center for Latino Policy Research

Report Three has two objectives: to review the knowledge-base on Latino students commissioned by the Latino Eligibility Study and to advise the Regents on policy to increase eligibility that emanates from what we know about Latino students' backgrounds, educational experiences and needs at the K-12, community college, and university levels.

The studies uniformly reject the deficiency framework where Latinos' educational failure, by and large, is attributed to some dispositional or cultural defect. Instead, all of these researchers test the alternative hypothesis - that structural barriers impede Latino students' educational achievement. The separate research studies are unified in showing how strategically considered programs and interventions do succeed.

The Task Force has begun analyzing the research studies as a whole in terms of the need for systemic and comprehensive reforms inside and outside UC to achieve a long-term increase in the eligibility and success of Latino students within the University of California.

An action agenda for the remainder of the life of the Task Force is outlined which builds on the analysis. The Task Force has identified pieces of a more holistic strategy: K-12 curricula, roles for UC faculty, UC eligibility criteria, and involvement of more segments of California society in enhancing Latino eligibility. Additionally, the Task Force will monitor the degree to which its current and previous recommendations are implemented.