White House honors MDCPS for advancement of Hispanic students

Education Monday, May 2, 2016

Two Miami-Dade County Public Schools’ (M-DCPS) offices were honored recently by the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics. Recognition was given to the Office of Early Childhood's Transition to Kindergarten Ambassadors Program. This initiative was recognized for its impact on 17,000 Hispanic students in Miami-Dade County.

The program promotes kindergarten readiness and enhances relationships between 1,300 privately-owned, early learning centers and 150 neighboring M-DCPS elementary and K-8 centers.

The Office of Advanced Academics also was recognized for addressing the College Access and College Completion educational priorities for the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics. Hispanic students in M-DCPS make up 72 percent of all students participating in the Advanced Placement (AP) program and 68 percent of students taking Dual Enrollment (DE) courses.

In the College Board’s AP Report to the Nation, Miami-Dade is first in the nation in the number of individual Hispanic/Latino students scoring 3+ on AP Exams (9,206), and leads the nation in number of AP Exams with scores 3+ taken by Hispanic/Latino students (13,678).