WESLACO, RGV - Eighty five percent of parents living in Rio Grande Valley colonias know little, if anything, about graduation plans under House Bill 5, according to a new survey by the RGV Equal Voice Network.
The same survey found 80 percent of parents know little, if anything, about the impact of Texas’ tracking procedures on their children’s education. And, 66 percent of parents who have a child in middle or high school do not know which graduation plan would prepare their child for a four-year university.
More than 1,600 Valley parents across 24 school districts and 30 cities were surveyed in February and March of this year. The Intercultural Development Research Association in San Antonio analyzed the survey and provided strategic support for Equal Voice.
Luzelma Canales“We need our kids to be making the right choices in high school but, alarmingly, more than 60 percent of parents with a child in high school had not heard of House Bill 5,” said Lourdes Flores, co-chair of the RGV Equal Voice Network’s education working group. “The school districts are sending out information about HB 5 but it is not registering with parents. Clearly, we have a lot of work to do to close this information gap. We need to do more outreach because the stakes could not be higher, the programs taken in high school can affect a student’s opportunity to progress.”
Flores was interviewed by the Rio Grande Guardian at the end of an RGV Equal Voice “mesa comunitaria” or community forum, held at South Texas College in Weslaco. It featured parents telling school superintendents about the experience of their children in school. “It was moving, powerful, testimony,” said Luzelma Canales, executive director of RGV Focus, which helped bring school leaders to the meeting.
HB 5, passed by the Legislature in 2013, lowers the number of college prep credits students need to graduate and creates multiple tracks with technical and vocational education in place of college-prep education for a number of students.
“It is the education working group’s fear that the implementation of this tracking program will leave students unprepared for college and without the necessary credits for admission to college,” an RGV Equal Voice document states.”
Three out of five survey respondents had at least one child in secondary school (grades 7-12). Two out of five survey respondents had students in grades K-6. Of all the respondents, most reported they either knew very little about HB 5 (25 percent) or nothing at all (60 percent). “Respondents with secondary school education – the ones who most need the information – know absolutely nothing or very little (82 percent) about the new graduation requirements and endorsements,” the survey report states.
The survey also found that:
• Eighty-four percent of all respondents had little or no idea how the new graduation requirements were impacting their children.
• Eighty percent of respondents with at least one child in grades 7-12 know absolutely nothing (53 percent) or very little (27 percent) about how HB 5 is impacting their children’s education.
• Over half (53 percent) of all respondents were not familiar with the different graduation paths.
• Seventy-six percent of respondents with at least one child in grades 7-12 were not at all or minimally familiar with their child’s graduation plan.
• Over half respondents with at least one child in grades 7-12 reported they had not been asked to sign off on their child’s graduation plan, and almost one third (31 percent) did not know if the school had asked them.
• Four out of five respondents (82 percent) with at least one child in grades 7-12 did not know the procedure or changing their child’s graduation plan.
• Three out of four respondents (75 percent) with at least one child in grades 7-12 did not know their child’s graduation plan or endorsements.
• One third of respondents with at least one child in grades 7-12 do know which graduation plan would prepare their child for a four-year university. But two-thirds reported they did not know.
• Responses were similar regarding Algebra II. Most of the respondents with at least one child in grades 7-12 did not know if their child had taken or would be taking Algebra II – traditionally a gateway course for ‘college readiness.’
• Three out of four respondents (75 percent) with at least one child in grades 7-12 reported that they had not received information about the new HB 5 legislation or graduation requirements.
• Of those who had received information (27 percent), 44 percent reported the PTA Comunitario as their source.
• Most of the respondents reported that the best ways that school districts can provide them with information on HB 5 include: meetings (36 percent), at school (12 percent), letters (11 percent), and mail (eight percent).
Almost all of the respondents (89 percent) want more information on the graduation requirements and endorsements. And close to 100 percent of the respondents signed their name on the survey, and provided contact information.
“Clearly, the information about the implication of HB 5 is not getting to the parents. It is going to take more than a letter to the parents or putting information out on a school website. It might take a conversation around the table. There needs to be different ways to deliver that message. We have got to do something about. We need to collaborate,” said Equal Voice’s Flores.
The one bright spot, Flores said, is that the mesa comunitaria was a big success. “We are excited about the turnout and the energy. About 120 people attended. More than half were parents, we had five superintendents and 16 school districts represented.”
RGV Focus’ Canales said she liked a point Flores made to the school leaders at the mesa comunitaria. “Lourdes said we are not here to point fingers, we are here to find solutions. We did not want the school districts to be caught off guard. Everyone who needed to be at the table was here. Everybody left feeling there is more work to be done. No one was defensive.”
Canales said that watching parents give their personal stories to the superintendents was inspiring. “This is how the Valley culture is, it is, come to my house, let’s have an honest conversation, I think many people misplace our respectful way of working for us not having serious conversations. There were some powerful stories told. By them telling the story, the parents were the head of the household, they were guiding the direction of the conversation. People's stories touched hearts and so it opened you up to listening.
“We do not give the Valley culture enough credit. It is our culture that allows us to do things like this. We are respectful even when we disagree. It is about, let's solve this. We are parents from the under-represented, under-educated communities, we care enough to inform ourselves about these mandates, we care enough to say come to our table and let's have a discussion, let's break bread, let's do it together. It is about using your culture as the asset.”
Canales added: “Working with these groups, it is a very humbling experience. They motivate from a very different place. We motivate ourselves over thinking, they motivate from the heart and the future they see for their kids. They know that to get their kids there they have to make all of this happen. This makes the Valley unique.”
