Education
At every level of schooling educational outcomes differ between native born and immigrant Latinos and between Latinos and other racial and ethnic groups. Measuring those differences and the factors that produce them are critical to understanding the Latino future. The Center has focused attention on outcomes at the post-secondary level.
Related Publications
1.21.2010
Statistical Portrait of Hispanics in the United States, 2008
1.21.2010
Statistical Portrait of the Foreign-Born Population in the United States, 2008
12.11.2009
Between Two Worlds: How Young Latinos Come of Age in America
12.7.2009 Most of what the public learns about Hispanics comes not through focused coverage of the life and times of the nation's largest minority group but through event-driven news stories in which Hispanics are one of many elements. According to a media content analysis done jointly by the Project for Excellence in Journalism and the Pew Hispanic Center, just 645 out of 34,452 stories studied contained substantial references to Hispanics. And only a tiny number, 57 stories, focused directly on the lives of Hispanics in the U.S. The sample of news stories for this study appeared in major media outlets between February 9 and August 9, 2009. 10.7.2009 10.7.2009 3.31.2009 3.5.2009 3.5.2009 8.26.2008 6.26.2008 1.23.2008 1.23.2008 8.30.2007 6.6.2007 3.14.2007 10.5.2006 8.29.2006 8.29.2006 11.1.2005 11.1.2005 11.1.2005 6.23.2004 6.23.2004 6.23.2004 1.26.2004 1.26.2004 6.12.2003 12.4.2002 9.5.2002 5.28.2002 1.1.2002
Hispanics in the News: An Event-Driven Narrative
The Changing Pathways of Hispanic Youths Into Adulthood
Latinos and Education: Explaining the Attainment Gap
Sharp Growth in Suburban Minority Enrollment
Yields Modest Gains in School Diversity
The student population of America's suburban public schools has shot up by 3.4 million in the past decade and a half, and virtually all of this increase (99%) has been due to the enrollment of new Latino, black, and Asian students. Suburban school districts in 2007 educated a student population that was 41.4% non-white, up from 28% in 1993. Despite the sharp rise in the racial and ethnic diversity of suburban district enrollments overall, there has been only a modest increase in the racial and ethnic diversity of student populations at the level of the individual suburban school. For example, in 2007, the typical white suburban student attended a school which had a 75% white student body; in 1993, this same figure had been 83%.
Statistical Portrait of the Foreign-Born Population in the United States, 2007
Statistical Portrait of Hispanics in the United States, 2007
One-in-Five and Growing Fast: A Profile of Hispanic Public School Students
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. Strong growth in Hispanic enrollment is expected to continue for decades, according to a recently released U.S. Census Bureau population projection. In 2050, there will be more school-age Hispanic children than school-age non-Hispanic white children. This report presents demographic, language, and family background characteristics of the nation's 10 million Hispanic public school students.
The Role of Schools in the English Language Learner Achievement Gap
Students designated as English language learners (ELL) tend to go to public schools with low standardized test scores. However, these low levels of assessed proficiency are not solely attributable to poor achievement by ELL students. These same schools report poor achievement by other major student groups as well, and have a set of characteristics associated generally with poor standardized test performance--such as high student-teacher ratios, high student enrollments and high levels of students who live in poverty or near poverty. When ELL students are not isolated in these low-achieving schools, their gap in test score results is considerably narrower.
Statistical Portrait of Hispanics in the United States, 2006
Statistical Portrait of the Foreign-Born Population in the United States, 2006
The Changing Racial and Ethnic Composition of U.S. Public Schools
Since 1993-94 white students have become less isolated from minority students while, at the same time, black and Hispanic students have become slightly more isolated from white students. These two seemingly contradictory trends stem mainly from the increase of more than 55% in the Hispanic slice of the public school population.
How Far Behind in Math and Reading are English Language Learners?
The fast-growing number of students designated as English language learners are among the farthest behind in reading and math, according to an analysis that is based on standardized test scores. About 51% of 8th grade ELL students trail whites in reading and math, meaning that the scores for one out of every two will have to improve for the group to achieve parity. In the 4th grade, 35% of ELL students are behind in math and 47% are behind in reading when compared with their white counterparts.
Latinos Online
Internet use is comparatively low among Latinos, though there are considerable differences within this diverse population. Hispanics whose primary language is Spanish and who have lower levels of education are largely disconnected from the internet, but those who are born in the U.S. and are English speakers have rates comparable to non-Hispanic whites.
The Changing Landscape of American Public Education: New Students, New Schools
This report examines the intersection of two trends that have transformed the landscape of American public education in recent years: a rapid increase in enrollment and a surge in the opening of new schools. The report describes the racial and ethnic components of enrollment growth at various levels of the K-12 system. It also examines the composition of enrollment in newly-opened schools and older schools still in operation as well as the impact of rapid growth in Hispanic enrollment. Detailed statistics at the state level are also provided.
A Statistical Portrait of Hispanics at Mid-Decade
A Statistical Portrait of the Foreign-Born Population at Mid-Decade
The High Schools Hispanics Attend: Size and Other Key Characteristics
A report on the characteristics of high schools attended by different racial and ethnic groups finds that Hispanic teens are more likely than blacks and whites to attend the nation's largest public high schools.
The Higher Drop-Out Rate of Foreign-Born Teens: The Role of Schooling Abroad
A report on high school enrollment points to the importance of schooling abroad in understanding the dropout problem for immigrant teens, finding that those teens have often fallen behind in their education before reaching the United States.
Recent Changes in the Entry of Hispanic and White Youth into College
A report on college enrollment finds that the number of young Hispanics going to college is increasing.
Latino Youth Finishing College: The Role Of Selective Pathways
This new study from the Pew Hispanic Center that finds that the white/Latino gap in finishing college is larger than the high school completion gap. The study reveals that Latino undergraduates are at a disadvantage in competing for college degrees because of two important factors: many Hispanic undergraduates disproportionately enroll on campuses that have low bachelor's degree completion rates, and they have different experiences than white students even when they enroll on the same campuses.
Latino Youth and the Pathway to College
This study was conducted by the Educational Policy Institute through a grant from the Pew Hispanic Center to provide the most up-to-date analysis of Latino achievement through postsecondary education. The study analyses the latest installment of the National Educational Longitudinal Study (NELS), begun in 1988 with eighth grade students and followed up several times, with the last follow-up survey in 2000: eight years after scheduled high school graduation.
Federal Policy and Latinos in Higher Education
The purpose of this study is to describe federal legislation and programs that support higher education and to assess Latino participation in these programs. While there are many programs at the state, institutional, and community levels that facilitate access to higher education for Latinos, the Higher Education Act (HEA), due for reauthorization this year, is the main policy vehicle at the federal level for postsecondary education programs. These programs provide concrete examples of educational activities that can inform--and be informed by--local activities and programs to facilitate Latino student access, persistence, and completion of higher education. A series of developments in the costs and financing of colleges and universities set the context for HEA reauthorization.
Pew Hispanic Center/Kaiser Family Foundation National Survey Of Latinos: Education
National Survey of Latinos: Education is a new comprehensive survey of Latino attitudes toward education, public schools and a variety of education issues, including the No Child Left Behind Act. This national survey is released against the backdrop of major changes in the nation's K-12 system as states and school districts apply sweeping new federal requirements. Conducted by the Pew Hispanic Center and the Kaiser Family Foundation, the survey includes substantial comparison samples of whites and African Americans.
Pew Hispanic Center/Kaiser Family Foundation National Survey of Latinos: Education
Hispanic Youth Dropping Out of U.S. Schools: Measuring the Challenge
The Improving Educational Profile Of Latino Immigrants
Latinos In Higher Education: Many Enroll, Too Few Graduate
Work or Study: Different Fortunes of U.S. Latino Generations
Educational Attainment: Better than Meets the Eye, But Large Challenges Remain