New report profiles current state of Latinos in education

A new report by a top education advocacy group details the progress Latinos have made in education attainment over the last decade as well as areas where improvement is still needed.

The report released this week by Excelencia in Education is titled “The Condition of Latinos in Education: 2015 Factbook.” The authors of the report say it’s intended to provide a more accurate profile of the current state of Latinos in education.

“So many people presume that the majority of Latinos are English language learners, drop-outs and undocumented immigrants,” Deborah Santiago, vice president of Excelencia in Education and author of the report, told VOXXI. “We are some of those things, but the majority of us are not.”

SEE ALSO: Closing educational achievement gaps would grow the U.S. economy

The report provides more than 20 fact sheets that offer snapshots of the current condition of Latino students at all levels of education—from early childhood education to college and beyond. It also establishes a baseline from which to measure performance over time.

The report concludes that over the last 10 years, Latinos have made significant progress in educational attainment.

For example, Latino students have made improvements in high school completion. According to the report, high school completion among Latino students has increased from 57 percent to 65 percent. What’s more, the percentage of Latinos among high school dropouts has also been cut in half to 13 percent.

Another area in which Latino students have made significant progress is in college enrollment. The report shows about 70 percent of Latinos who graduate from high school enroll in college, up from 54 percent a decade ago. What’s also significant is the fact that Latino high school graduates have higher college enrollment rates than their white and African American peers.

And when it comes to educational attainment, Latinos have also seen improvements. Over the last 10 years, the number of Latinos earning an associate degree or higher has increased by 71 percent—from 3.8 million to 6.5 million Latinos with at least an associate degree.

SEE ALSO: Why Obama’s free community college plan matters to Latinos

However, the report also stresses that there’s still plenty of work to do in order to increase Latino student success.

For example, while education attainment for Latinos has increased, Latinos still fall behind other groups. According to the report, about 22 percent of Latino adults who are 25 or older have at least an associate degree, compared to 60 percent of Asians, 46 percent of whites and 31 percent of African Americans.

What’s also troubling is that Latino children are more likely to live in poverty, as are African American children, compared to Asians and whites. They are also less likely to be enrolled in early childhood education and more likely to have lower reading and math scores than other groups.

Santiago said she hopes stakeholders, decision makers and funders will pay attention to the report and “look more critically” at areas in which they can make positive contributions to improve Latino student success.

“We’re not dictating whether the focus should be early childhood or college or graduate education, though there are opportunities to make improvements in all those areas,” she said. “For us, it’s a matter of saying, ‘Look, don’t just spend your time doing the analysis—we have a snapshot here. Think about what you can do with it.’”

Santiago added, “Our hope is that this is a springboard to dive deeper and to do more.”

SEE ALSO: Excelencia in Education: Promoting Hispanic excellence in school

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