Hispanic Achievement. The Progress of Education Reform, 2004. Volume 6, Number 3

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6

General Electric Foundation, Ossining, NY.

Policymakers

Educational Change; Labor Force; Advanced Placement; Achievement Tests; Educational Attainment; Academic Achievement; Hispanic American Students; Achievement Gains

One in nine Americans, one in every four new entrants into the labor force and--in several states--one of every two children entering school is now of Hispanic descent. In little over a decade, today's Hispanic first graders will constitute a significant percentage of the nation's working adults. This report examines the educational status of Hispanics in the United States through the lens of 47 key statistics, ranging from grade school absenteeism to college completion rates to voting participation. The report is an easy to read format of tables, charts and short blocks of text that sharpens the picture of the educational gains Hispanics have made in recent years, as well as the many gaps that still exist. On the one hand, there have been steady and significant increases over the past two decades in Hispanic students' performance on national achievement tests, and in the number who take high school Advanced Placement courses, enroll in college and earn a bachelor's degree. These gains, however, have merely narrowed and, in some cases, barely made a dent in the historically large gaps between Hispanic and white students on these and other measures.

ERIC

2005

ED484953