Closing the Gap: Focus on Latin Students

*** Despite some promising signs of progress, educational outcomes for Latinos have not improved dramatically in the last 30 years. Latinos continue to have low academic achievement and the highest dropout rates in the nation, as well as low college preparatory course enrollment and postsecondary attainment.

*** Latinos tend to enroll in community colleges more than any other group, but more than half never complete a postsecondary degree. Latino enrollment in four-year institutions is more comparable to that of whites and African-Americans, but only 16 percent of Latinos graduate with a bachelor's degree, compared to 37 percent of whites and 21 percent of African-Americans (U.S. Census Bureau, 2000).

*** Most Latinos face multiple barriers to improving academic achievement, high school completion, and postsecondary attainment. Research by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the National Research Council (NRC), the Urban Institute, and others identify the key challenges jeopardizing Latino students' chances to excel academically and later in life:

• Disproportionate attendance at resource-poor schools;

• Lack of access to fully qualified teachers;

• Lack of participation in rigorous, college-preparatory coursework;

• Parents with low-household incomes and low levels of formal education;

• English language learners and English language learners with disabilities, both with unmet instructional needs;

• High mobility of students whose families are migrant farm workers; and

• Students who are undocumented who cannot attend college or work legally after attaining a college degree.

*** One reason Latinos do not attend college at the same rate as their peers is that they do not take the courses to prepare them for college. About 45 percent of Latino students are enrolled in college prep courses such as algebra 2 and chemistry, compared to 62 percent of white students. Latinos accounted for only 10 percent of Advanced Placement (AP) examinees, compared to 66 percent of whites (ETS, 2003). Studies frequently cite that some teachers and administrators often relegate Latino students to less academically challenging coursework, do not inform them about the existence of AP classes, or do not hold them to high standards (Urban Institute, 2000; Tomas Rivera Policy Institute et al., 2003). Not surprisingly, only 19 percent of Latino high school graduates are highly or very highly qualified for admission to a four-year higher education institution, compared to approximately 40 percent of white students (NCES, 2003).

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