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Achievement Gap

Achievement Gap and Latina/o Education

Closing Achievement Gaps (PDF)
Improving Educational Outcomes for Hispanic Children
Pachon, Harry P., Louis G. Tornatzky, Celina Torres. National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators. 4 April 2003.
The goal of this report composed by the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislatures (NHCSL) are to familiarize Hispanic state legislators and other stakeholders with a range of educational issues confronting the community, as well as to pose potential program and policy solutions. The overall problem of Hispanic educational achievement is conceptualized as comprising of many performance gaps, many levels of positive and negative explanatory factors, and as inseparable from the larger dilemma of social, political, and demographic changes occurring in the Latino community.

Leaks in the Postsecondary Pipeline: A Survey of Americans (PDF)
Commissioned by Jobs for the Future.
Conducted by Lake Snell Perry & Associates, Inc, Jobs for the Future, in preparation for their conference Double the Numbers: Postsecondary Education and Underserved Youth, surveyed the public knowledge of and perceptions about the challenges facing high school students including lower-income and minority students trying to move on to succeed in college. The study also gauged public opinion about various policy options to improve the system in order for more students are able to move successfully from high school onto and through college. This national survey of 1,010 Americans age 18 and older was conducted September 23 through October 5, 2003, including samples of African-Americans and Hispanics.

Losing our Future (PDF)
How Minority Youth Are Being Left Behind by the Graduation Rate Crisis
Losen, Daniel, Gary Orfield, Christopher B. Swanson, and Johanna Wald. Advocates for Children of New York, The Civil Rights Project at Harvard University, The Civil Society Institute, and The Urban Institute. 2004.
This report seeks to highlight disparities drawn on by the public's and policymakers' attention to the urgent need to address this educational and civil rights crisis. Using a more accurate method for calculating graduation rates developed by the Urban Institute, provides an estimate of high school graduation rates, distinguished at the state and district level, and disaggregated by race.

Public Education and Black Male Students: A State Report Card (PDF)
The Schott Foundation for Public Education. 2004.
The Schott Education Inequity Index (SEII) highlights disparities in the quality of education provided to African-Americans by examining state high school graduation rates of black and white non-Hispanic males. Using this comparison focuses attention on the issue of race and minimizes gender and language effects. In 2001/2002, 59% of African-American males did not receive diplomas with their cohort. Districts in which black students are concentrated do worse on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, due to the constant suspension and expulsion of more black male students than their white counterparts, leading to assigning more blacks than whites to special education, which if they are not qualities will be subjected to procedures open to mental and social abuse, which effectively prevents these students from receiving a high school diploma along side their peers.

New Study Reveals Scale of Education Gap Between Latino and White Students (PDF)
Educational Policy. Washington, DC. 23 June, 2004.
A new report released today by Educational Policy Institute and the Pew Hispanic Center documents the progress of Latino students from eighth grade in the workforce. The study found that for every 1,000 eighth grade students who are of Hispanic origin, 142 earn a bachelor's degree within 8 years of scheduled high school graduation. By comparison, 318 White students, more than double the number of Latino students, achieve the same outcome.

The Real Truth about Low Graduation Rates, and Evidence-Based Commentary (PDF)
Swanson, Christopher B. The Urban Institute / Education Policy Center. August 2004.
Achievement testing is the centerpiece of the state accountability systems mandated by the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). As a new body of research on graduation rates is gaining wider currency, we are just now coming to an uncomfortable realization – the nation appears to be facing a crisis in high school completion. This paper draws on recent research and analysis from the Urban Institute in attempts to clarify these issues and to offer a foundation upon which to ground on-going policy debates, future research into the graduation and dropout phenomena, and the shape of the next generation of educational accountability systems.

Obstacles Affecting the Completion of Latina/o Education

A System At Risk: College Outreach Programs and the Educational Neglect of Underachieving Latino High School Students (PDF)
Featured in a 2003 issue of the Urban Review, author Pete P. Loza examines the impact college and university outreach programs have on Latina/o and other minority high school students. In order to attempt to close the "achievement gap," this article features the success of the University of California's Early Academic Outreach and Upward Bound programs. These studies disclose that Latina/o students demonstrate the most need for academic counseling and mentorship. Falsities created within the political nature of these programs create harsh eligibility criteria that Latina/o youth not served by support programming are unable to meet.

Education (PDF)
Section 5 of the U.S. Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract of the United States. 2002.
This section presents data concerning formal education as a whole, at various levels of both public and private schools. The data depicts the population and school enrollment, degrees granted, as well as the financial aspects of education. In addition, data for charter schools, computer usage in schools, distance education, and adult education is presented. Research conducted by the National Education Association. Current Population Survey (CPS), the U.S. Census Bureau, and the Center for Education Statistics (NCES) in the form of analyzed surveys results are also included in this selection.

Every Child a Graduate (PDF)
A Framework for an Excellent Education for all Middle and High School Students
Scott Joftus, Ed.D., Policy Director for the Alliance for Excellent Education. September 2002.
This report offers thought and information through research conducted by the Alliance for Excellent Education on K-12 education. According to national statistics, six million students in middle and high schools across the nation are in serious danger of being left behind when the "No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation" was put into effect. Students, of a wide-range of economic levels affected by this plan live in our cities, suburbs, and rural areas. The report goes on to reveal that less than 75 percent of all eighth grade students graduate from high school.

From Barrios to Yale (PDF)
The Role of Parenting Strategies in Latino Families
Ceballo, Rosario. University of Michigan. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, Vol. 26 No. Sage Publication.  2, May 2004 171-186.
This study relies on qualitative methods to investigate the role of parents and home characteristics in the academic success of Latino/a students from impoverished, immigrant families. The primary goal is to identify parenting practices that contribute to the academic achievement of poor Latino students. Ten first-generation, U.S.-born, Latino students attending Yale University were interviewed for this study. All of the students were the first in their families to receive a college degree. The findings identified four family background characteristics contributing to their academic achievements, supportive of their students' lives.

Latinos and Information Technology: The Promise and the Challenge (PDF)
The Tomás Rivera Policy Institute. February 2002.
Over the last few years, "Digital Divide" has been become the nation's most popular catch phrase to describe segments of society without access to information technology and its potential to improve life and livelihood. This report focuses on the digital age, and the associated challenges faced by Latinos attempting to join the revolution. Analyzed in this report is the promise of information technology for the Latino community as a symbol of a much broader and more profound change in order to advance socially, politically and economically in this new technological world.

Research Sheds New Light on the Hispanic-White Achievement Gap (PDF)
The Progress of Education Reform. Hispanic Achievement. Vol 6, No. 3, August 2004.
This study finds that one in nine Americans, or one in every four entering the labor force, or of every two children entering school is now of Hispanic descent. Within a decade, today's Hispanic first-graders will become the nation's working adults, as Hispanics continue to become the nation's fastest-growing minority group. It is also documented in this study the significant increases in the performance of Hispanic students on national achievement tests, as well as the increase in the number of Hispanic children enrolling in Advanced Placement courses, graduating from high school, and then going on to college to earn bachelor's degree. The Progress of Education Reform further summarizes several recent studies analyzing new social and economic hardships leading to Hispanic underachievement in higher education.