Culture and academic performance.

Culture and academic performance. U.S. Census reports remind us that Hispanics are the largest andfastest growing minority population in the United States United States,officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. . As theirnumbers continue to grow, colleges and universities across the countryhave stepped up their efforts to recruit Hispanics, while simultaneouslyfiguring out how best to accommodate them once they arrive. And as wereported a year ago, a number of historically Black colleges anduniversities Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before 1964 with the intention of serving the African American community. They are often liberal arts colleges or universities. have also reached out to Hispanic students. Senior writer Ronald Roach's "Jump Starting LatinoAchievement" is the first of many stories to focus on the nationalpush to boost Latino academic performance. In past editions of BlackIssues In Higher Education, the predecessor of Diverse, our achievementgap coverage looked at Black and Latino achievement compared to Whiteand Asian American A��sian A��mer��i��canalso A��sian-A��mer��i��can ?n.A U.S. citizen or resident of Asian descent. See Usage Note at Amerasian.A students. We had also featured stories on thecontroversy over how scholars were advancing ideas about culture'saffects on Black achievement. With the African-American communitypublicly discussing the crisis of young Black males and the impact ofBlack poverty like never before, you can be sure that those stories onculture and academic performance will continue to be part of theachievement gap coverage. Given our broader mandate with Diverse, we now want to bringspecific attention to some of the issues that distinguish Latinos fromnative-born African-Americans with regard to raising K-12 studentperformance. Issues such as bilingual education bilingual education,the sanctioned use of more than one language in U.S. education. The Bilingual Education Act (1968), combined with a Supreme Court decision (1974) mandating help for students with limited English proficiency, requires instruction in the native and immigrant culturewill receive serious coverage because that's what scholars andresearchers are studying in the effort to improve Latino achievement. In other articles, contributing editor A contributing editor is a magazine job title that varies in responsibilities. Most often, a contributing editor is a freelancer who has proven ability and readership draw. Lydia Lure looks at howforeign language faculty are adjusting their curricula to ensure thattoday's college students know how to use technology tools tocommunicate; Diverse correspondent Kerr/Allen asks whether theHispanic-Serving Institution designation is an asset or a deficit.Kerri's article raises some important questions about the more than200 colleges and universities that are federally-designatedHispanic-Serving Institutions. Are institutions with that distinctiontaking in federal dollars earmarked for HSIs and doing little or nothingto boost Let/no achievement on their campuses? Are the same institutionsfailing to aggressively recruit and retain Latino faculty members? Alienreports that such questions are being asked by Latinos who work asadministrators and faculty members at HSIs. In addition, correspondent Jamal Watson reports on how the U.S.Congress has eliminated the funding for several minority-focused medicaltraining centers. And last, but certainly not least, in "KeepingBlack Poetry Alive," Diane Mehta looks at how creative writingprofessors are helping students appreciate the craft. Hilary Hurd Anyaso EDITOR