8.26.2008
One-in-Five and Growing Fast: A Profile of Hispanic Public School Students
by Rick Fry and Felisa Gonzales, Pew Hispanic Center
The number of Hispanic students in the nation's public schools nearly doubled from 1990 to 2006, accounting for 60% of the total growth in public school enrollments over that period. There are now approximately 10 million Hispanic students in the nation's public kindergartens and its elementary and high schools; they make up about one-in-five public school students in the United States. In 1990, just one-in-eight public school students were Hispanic.
Strong growth in Hispanic enrollment is expected to continue for decades, according to a recently released U.S. Census Bureau population projection. The bureau projects that the Hispanic school-age population will increase by 166% by 2050 (to 28 million from 11 million in 2006), while the non-Hispanic school-age population will grow by just 4% (to 45 million from 43 million) over this same period.1 In 2050, there will be more school-age Hispanic children than school-age non-Hispanic white children.
Using data from the 2006 American Community Survey (ACS), this report presents information on the demographic characteristics of Hispanic students in public schools. It compares Hispanic public school students with their non-Hispanic counterparts. The large sample sizes available in the ACS also enable detailed comparison of Hispanic students across generational groups.
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1The U.S. Census Bureau projects the size of the population age 5 to 17. The growth of public school enrollment will not exactly match the growth of the school-age population because some children are not enrolled in school, some children attend private schools and some adults are enrolled in public schools.
Other Resources
Schneider, Barbara, Sylvia Martinez, and Ann Owens. 2006. "Barriers to Educational Opportunities for Hispanics in the United States," in Hispanics and the Future of America, edited by Marta Tienda and Faith Mitchell. Washington, DC: The National Acadamies Press.
Capps, Randy, et. al. 2005. The New Demography of America's Schools: Immigration and the No Child Left Behind Act. September. Washington, DC: The Urban Institute.
Reed, Deborah, et. al. 2005. Educational Progress Across Immigrant Generations in California. San Francisco, CA: Public Policy Institute of California.
Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics. 2007. America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2007. July. Washington, DC: Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics.
Fry, Richard. 2006. The Changing Landscape of American Public Education: New Students, New Schools. October. Washington, DC: Pew Hispanic Center.
Fry, Richard. 2007. The Changing Racial and Ethnic Composition of U.S. Public Schools. August. Washington, DC: Pew Hispanic Center.
Fry, Richard. 2007. How Far Behind in Math and Reading are English Language Learners? June. Washington, DC: Pew Hispanic Center.
More on Education
Between Two Worlds: How Young Latinos Come of Age in America
Hispanics in the News: An Event-Driven Narrative
The Changing Pathways of Hispanic Youths Into Adulthood
Statistical Portrait of Hispanics in the United States, 2008
Statistical Portrait of the Foreign-Born Population in the United States, 2008