To address these shortcomings, Gandara recommends:
- earlier intervention to help identify academic strengths that can be nurtured among students who may not have the resources to reach their potential otherwise;
- schools building on the strengths that students bring to the classroom, including their home language skills;
- schools placing special attention on intensive academic-English instruction;
- schools and programs finding ways to better target and distribute resources to these students;
- developing special interventions that help these students gain access to rigorous college-preparatory courses and integrating those interventions into schools;
- providing frank information to both students and parents about the real costs of college, and the various means of financing it; offering information to all Latino students who have demonstrated the ability to gain admission to four-year colleges and universities, and their parents, about the benefits and liabilities of attending nearby, less-demanding institutions;
- and cultivating counselors who come from the same background as their students and who understand and can communicate with the students' parents.
"Fragile Futures" can be downloaded for free at http://www.ets.org/research/pic
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