UT Arlington receives grants for Arlington ISD partnership

by PegNews wire

The University of Texas at Arlington has received funding for a partnership with the Arlington Independent School District to prepare first-generation minority students for postsecondary education.

The UT Arlington College of Education and Health Professions announced Wednesday that it has received a $275,000 grant from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to begin the UT Arlington and Arlington ISD College Readiness Program. Dr. Carla Amaro-Jiménez, visiting assistant professor of bilingual/ESL education at UT Arlington, and Dr. Luis Rosado, director of the UT Arlington Center for Bilingual Education, worked to obtain the grants.

The new college readiness program will recruit 25 first-generation college students in different majors from the university to function as mentors to students at Arlington and Lamar high schools in the Arlington ISD.

The mentors will manage centers at the two high schools and work a maximum of 20 hours a week to provide preparation for the SAT and ACT examinations. They will also assist students in the application process for financial aid, the college selection process, the selection of a major, and offer strategies to cope in high school and college.

The UT Arlington College of Education and Health Professions was also awarded a separate $50,000 grant from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board for the P-16 effort. P-16 is designed to connect pre-school, K-12, and postsecondary education by helping students make easier transitions from one level to the next.

The $50,000 grant will be used to improve the graduation rates of Latino students from Arlington High and Lamar High and boost Latino students' rate of enrollment in college by 20%.

Latinos are the largest minority group in the nation, but only 6.5% of Latino students in Texas go to college.

Source: UT Arlington