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##  Latinos in School: Some Facts and Findings. ERIC Digest Number 162.          

The number of Latino children and youth in public schools in the                U.S. is steadily increasing. Currently, one third of the Latino                 population is under age 18. Latino students comprise 15 percent of              K-12 students overall, a proportion projected to increase to 25                 percent by 2025. Although  Latinos have high aspirations, their                 educational attainment is consistently lower than that of other                 students. Latino student achievement is compromised by a variety of             factors, including poverty, lack of participation in preschool                  programs, attendance at poor quality elementary and high schools,               and limited English proficiency. 
In order to help education policy            and decision makers better respond to the strengths and challenges              of the growing Latino school population, this digest presents key               information about the current educational status of Latino students.            One of an ERIC Clearinghouse on Urban Education series consisting of            facts about specific student groups, the digest is based on Latinos             in Education, a report by the White House Initiative on Educational             Excellence for Hispanic Americans. The report, fully cited at the               end of the digest, contains additional statistics as well as sources            for the information. LATINOS IN PRESCHOOL* Latinos under age 5            are less likely to be enrolled in early childhood education programs            than other groups: 20 percent, as compared with 44 percent of                   African Americans and 42 percent of whites. Urban and suburban rates            for Latinos are nearly the same. 
* The enrollment of Latino                   children in preschool increases with increases in parent educational            attainment. Fewer Hispanics age 25 or older complete high school                than do African Americans and whites, however. Enrollment also                  increases along with increases in family income. But here, too,                 Latinos, with a median family income of $28,000, lag behind                     the $39,000 median income of the population at large. 
* While 36              percent of Latino children live in poverty, only 26 percent attend              Head Start programs, which are designed to remedy the effects of                poverty on educational achievement. 
* Although children three to              five years old may start school better prepared to learn if they are            read to, only 65 percent of Latino children are read to, compared to            75 percent of African Americans and 90 percent of whites. 
*                   Seventy percent of preschool teachers assert that they are not fully            prepared to meet the needs of students with limited English                     proficiency or from diverse cultural backgrounds. Such lack of                  preparation can seriously impede the quality of Latino children's               preschool education. LATINOS IN ELEMENTARY                                    SCHOOLEnrollment 
* The enrollment of Latinos in elementary                schools increased 157 percent between 1978 and 1998. Latinos                    comprise 15 percent of the elementary school-age population. 
*                Nearly 50 percent of Latinos attend urban schools. They comprise                one-quarter of the student population in central city schools. 
*              Latino students attend schools with more than twice as many poor                classmates as those attended by white students: 46 percent compared             with 19 percent. 
Educational Achievement 
* Disparities between              Latino students and others begin as early as kindergarten and remain            through age 17. Latinos perform below their non-Hispanic peers in               reading, mathematics, and science proficiency by age 9. Overall,                they consistently perform below the national average in the National            Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). 
* Latinos comprise                 three-quarters of all students enrolled in Limited English                      Proficient (LEP) programs, although not all Latino students have                limited English proficiency. 
* Fewer Latinos than other students              have access to a computer at home or school, despite the fact that              computers are an essential tool: 68 percent use a computer at                   school (compared with 70 percent of African Americans and 84 percent            of whites), and only 18 percent use one at home (compared with 19               percent of African Americans and 52 percent of                                  whites). 
Teachers 
* Only about 4 percent of public school                   teachers are Latinos, whereas Latinos constitute 15 percent of the              student body. LATINOS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLEnrollment 
*                   Latinos in grades 9-12 constitute 13 percent of the school                      population. By 2030, they are expected to comprise 23 percent of the            population. * More than one-third of Latinos age 15 to 17 are                   enrolled below grade level, an unfortunately large number given the             fact that enrollment below grade level is the highest predictor of              dropping out. 
Educational Achievement 
* The average 1996 NAEP               scores for Hispanic students age 17 were well below those of their              white peers in reading, mathematics, and science. 
* Latino                    students earn more credits in computer science, foreign languages,              and English than other groups; and fewer credits than other groups              in history, science, and mathematics. 
College Preparation 
* The             percentage of Latino seniors planning to attend a four-year college             doubled from 24 percent in 1972 to 50 percent in 1992. The                      percentage intending to attend a two-year program increased from 12             to 20 percent. 
* Latino students are at least three times as                  likely to take a foreign language Advanced Placement (AP)                       examination as whites, and five times as likely as whites to be                 eligible for college credit from these tests. (White students are,              though, more likely than either Latinos or African Americans to take            AP examinations in all other subject areas.) 
* Only 35 percent of             Latino students are enrolled in college preparatory or academic                 programs that provide access to four-year colleges or rigorous                  technical schools, as compared with 43 percent of African Americans             and 50 percent of whites. 
* Moreover, Latino students are more                frequently tracked into general courses that satisfy only the basic             requirements: 50 percent are enrolled in general programs, as                   compared with 40 percent of African Americans and 39 percent of                 whites. 
Educational Attainment 
* The high school completion rate            for Latinos has remained steady over several years: only 63 percent,            as compared with 81 percent for African Americans and 90 percent for            whites. 
* The dropout rate for Latinos is much higher than for                other groups: in 1998, 30 percent of all Latino 16- through                     24-years-old (1.5 million) were dropouts, whereas the dropout rate              was 14 percent for African Americans and 8 percent for whites. 
*              The high Latino dropout rate is partly attributable to the                      relatively greater dropout rate for Hispanic immigrants: 44 percent,            as compared with 21 percent for the U.S.-born. 
* The high school              completion rate for Latino parents is increasing, but remains low.              Up from 23 percent in 1972 to 45 percent in 1997, the completion                rate for Latino parents still lags well below the rate for                      whites (90 percent), however. (Parental high school completion is an            important factor in the educational attainment of their                         children.) LATINOS IN COLLEGEUndergraduate Enrollment 
*                 Latinos now represent almost 10 percent of the total student                    enrollment in higher education. They comprise 14.5 percent of the               traditional college-age population in the U.S., a proportion                    expected to rise to 22 percent by 2025. 
* The representation of               Latinos in higher education has grown dramatically, increasing 202              percent between 1976 and 1996. 
* Latinos enroll in college                    immediately upon high school graduation at a rate similar to that of            other groups: 66 percent, compared with 60 percent for African                  Americans and 68 percent for whites. The enrollment rate for Latino             high school completers age 18-24 over time is lower than that for               other groups: 36 percent, compared with 40 percent for African                  Americans and 46 percent for whites. 
* The majority of Latino                 undergraduates (53 percent) are enrolled in two-year colleges,                  whereas the majority of African American (51 percent) and white (56             percent) undergraduates are enrolled in four-year colleges. 
* A               higher percentage of Latino students (45 percent) are enrolled part             time than either African Americans (40 percent) or whites (39                   percent). Latinos (35 percent) are also more likely than African                Americans (32 percent) or whites (25 percent) to take more than six             years to earn a bachelor's degree. 
* Latino enrollment in                     undergraduate education is concentrated in the fewer than 200                   colleges known as Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs). HSIs are                accredited degree-granting public or private non-profit higher                  education institutions with at least 25 percent total undergraduate             Hispanic full-time equivalent student enrollment. 
Undergraduate               Educational Attainment 
* Latinos have doubled their undergraduate             degree attainment since 1976. Twenty years later, Latino students               earned 5 percent of all bachelor's degrees and 7 percent of all                 associate's degrees. 
* The top three disciplines for the                      bachelor's degrees of Latinos are business, social sciences, and                education. The top disciplines for associate's degrees are liberal              arts, business, and the health professions. 
Graduate                          Enrollment 
* Latinos have increased their enrollment in graduate              education, although they still comprise a smaller proportion of                 students than other groups: 4 percent, as compared with 6 percent               for African Americans and 73 percent for whites. 
* Within the                 Latino graduate student group, 60 percent were women in                         1996. 
Financial Aid 
* Latinos borrow less than other groups to              pay for their education. Nearly 50 percent of first-year college                students received grants and fewer than 30 percent received loans.              In comparison, close to 60 percent of African Americans got grants              and 42 percent got loans, and 46 percent of whites got grants and 31            percent got loans. 
Faculty 
* In 1992 Latinos comprised fewer                than 3 percent of full-time instructional faculty and staff in                  higher education. SOURCELatinos in education: Early childhood,            elementary, secondary, undergraduate, graduate. (1999). Washington,             DC: The White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for                    Hispanic Americans. (ED 440 817) -----This Digest was                     developed by the ERIC Clearinghouse on Urban Education, with funding            from the Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S.                   Department of Education, under contract no. ED-99-CO-0035.  The                 opinions in this Digest do not necessarily reflect the position or              policies of OERI or the Department of Education.                             **Title:** Latinos in School: Some Facts and Findings. ERIC Digest Number 162.          **Note:** Based on "Latinos in Education: Early Childhood, Elementary,                    Secondary, Undergraduate, Graduate." Washington, DC, The White House            Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans, 1999;              see ED 440 817.                                                              **Document Type:** Information Analyses---ERIC Information Analysis Products (IAPs) (071); Information Analyses---ERIC Digests (Selected) in Full Text (073); **Target Audience:** Policymakers                                                                 **Available From:** ERIC Clearinghouse on Urban Education, Institute for Urban and                  Minority Education, Box 40, Teachers College, Columbia University,              New York, NY 10027. Tel: 800-601-4868 (Toll Free). For full text:               http://www.eric-web.tc.columbia.edu.                                         **Descriptors:**  Academic Achievement, College Preparation, Degrees (Academic),                  Educational Attainment, Elementary Secondary Education,  Enrollment            Trends, Higher Education,  Hispanic American Students, Minority                 Group Teachers, Poverty, Preschool Education, Teachers                       **Identifiers:** ERIC Digests,  Latinos                                                       
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