Notre Dame ACE Academies' Experience Brings Hope at Hispanic Council on Education Options & Reform

The moral imperative to improve K-12 education for Hispanic children requires action by schools, governments, families, and corporations, a leader from the Notre Dame ACE Academies said during a “summit” hosted recently by the Hispanic Council for Reform and Educational Options (Hispanic CREO).

Cristina Espino, advancement coordinator for Notre Dame ACE Academies, urged the 200 conference attendees to recognize the synergies achieved in such schools as crucial for empowering Latino students. The Notre Dame ACE Academies initiative is an innovative university-school partnership program that joins the University of Notre Dame with inner-city Catholic schools in Tucson, Arizona, and the Tampa Bay area of Florida.

“We see in Florida and Arizona that school choice is a necessary component of efforts to reform educational opportunities for the Latino community,” said Espino, who was a member of the panel addressing “The Power of One Voice: Empowering Students, Teachers, Parents, and Faith Leaders.” Notre Dame ACE Academies has seen school choice work in an atmosphere where families and corporations alike pitch in to strengthen the schools—and where school communities themselves embrace the dual goals of “college and heaven” for every child.

Espino reported that a public school county board member, convening with education reform advocates during the Miami conference Nov. 14-16, proposed raising the quality of K-12 education by placing more Hispanic teachers in the public school system. But she said a broader answer to the Latino achievement gap requires a collaborative commitment to do whatever it takes for students - these unyielding efforts are not tied to race, as proven by many at the five Notre Dame ACE Academies.

"We have a relentless focus on the children,” she said of the Tucson and Tampa Bay schools, where students and teachers alike are experiencing new initiatives and academic gains. In contrast to collaborations exclusively aimed at public schools, she said, “What I’m hearing [at the Summit] is that communities need more schools and partnerships that put children first.”

Sponsors of the three-day Hispanic CREO conference, now assembling annually to advance quality schooling for all children through school choice and other approaches, included Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE), Step Up for Students, the Ford Motor Company, the Walton Family Foundation, and the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice.

(Photo L to R) Jose A. Fernandez, Immediate Past President of Democratic Hispanic Caucus of Florida; Daniel A. Leon, Chief of Staff to civil rights leader Michael Skolnik; Cristina Espino, Advancement Coordinator Notre Dame ACE Academies; Maria Garza Brown, Advocate for Hispanic Scholarship Consortium and E3 Alliance; and Julio Fuentes, President & CEO Hispanic CREO