Go to Main Menu
Improving Opportunities: Strategies From The Secretary Of Education For Hispanic And Limited English Proficient Students
Overview of the Educational Status-of Hispanic and LEP Learners
Two descriptors characterize Hispanics in the United States rapidly growing numbers and a history of educational disadvantage. Over the past 20 years, the percentage of public school students who are Hispanic has increased from 6 percent to 14 percent. In some states, such as California, Texas, and Florida, Hispanics constitute a majority of public school students in large urban areas. But this increase is not limited to the Southwest. Between the 1990-91 and 1994-95 school years, the number of LEP students nationwide grew substantially. For example, in Arkansas the LEP population grew by 120 percent, in Wisconsin by 42 percent in Oklahoma by 99 percent, and in Kansas by 118 percent. Nationwide, over 1,067,755 teachers bad at least one LEP student in their class in 1992.
According to state education agency data for the years between 1990-91 and 1994-95, the number of LEP students mushroomed by nearly 50 percent. LEP: students comprise approximately one in four public school students in California, Alaska, and New Mexico, and about one in eight students in Texas and Arizona.
Despite their significant representation, Hispanics and LEP students are among the most educationally disadvantaged of all population groups attending the nation's schools:
- The Hispanic dropout rate is unacceptably high: about: 20 percent for those who enrolled in a U.S. school and 30 percent counting both those who ever enrolled and those who never enrolled in a U.S. school. Language limitation is one factor associated with the failure to complete high school. A factor contributing to the high dropout rate is that while Hispanics in America who were born outside the United States may never have entered schools in this country, they are counted among those who dropped out. Regardless of the reasons behind their lack of high school credentials, the impact is the same-young Hispanic adults do not have the basic level of education necessary to participate in today's economy, which demands high skill levels and the ability to learn new skills fast.
- Thirty-nine percent of Hispanic children live in families with an income below the poverty line; a rate more than twice as high as for white children. In general, youth from families in the lowest income brackets are eight limes as likely to drop out of school than those from families with a high income.
- Hispanic children start elementary school with less preschool experience than white children. According to the President's Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans, less than 15 percent of Hispanic children attend pre school (compared with 25 percent for black children and 35. percent for white children), despite our knowledge that such programs are proven predictors of educational attainment.
- Achievement gaps between Hispanics and white remain high; At age 9, the gap in reading performance has not changed significantly since the initial assessment. In math and science proficiency there has been little improvement in the gap between Hispanics and whites over the past 20 years. At age 13, the gap in math proficiency between Hispanics and whites has dosed by 10 points; however, the current gap of 25 points still remains. In reading proficiency, there has been little change in the gap between Hispanics and whites over the past 20 years. At age 17, the proficiency gaps for reading and math have closed by 11.6 and 12 points respectively; however, significant proficiency gaps remain.
- Academic courses like algebra and geometry in the eighth grade act as gatekeepers in high school to college preparatory courses and, hence, to college admission. Well over 80 percent of Hispanic and other disadvantaged students are not introduced to these courses by the eighth grade.
- The demand for teachers qualified to serve LEP students far outstrips the supply The state of California, for example, estimates a shortage of nearly 21,000 bilingual or English as a second language teachers.
- While approximately one-third of U.S. students are classified as minority, only 13.5 percent of their teachers have minority status.
Excerpted from Improving Opportunities: Strategies from the Secretary of Education for Hispanic and Limited English Proficient Students. A Response to the Hispanic Dropout Project US Department of Education (www.ed.gov/offices/OBEMLA)
Reprinted with permission from DDEL News, Fall 1998
