So we are working very hard to keep them on track. Recent outreach efforts have paid off. With the creation of a new Cal State campus in the county, more Latinos will likely go on to a four-year college, Cal State Channel Islands President Handel Evans said. The new university is already targeting Latino high school students through two outreach programs. Last fall, the university launched a readiness program at Santa Paula High School to prepare students for college.
Officials plan to expand the program, which offers students tutoring in math and English.
And during the summer, about 100 students from Santa Paula, Simi Valley, Fillmore and Ventura high schools took diagnostic tests in math and English, and participated in a one week institute at the developing campus. So you have to inculcate from an early time that going to a university is possible. Ventura County schools have also made an effort to hire more Latino teachers to increase diversity and to provide students with Latino role models. Teachers don't have to be Latino to be successful with Spanish-speaking students, educators say. But it's a bonus to have teachers who can communicate with students and parents in their native tongue.