Hispanics: Education Issues
 

Education Issues Community Issues

Demographics Publication: Focus on Hispanic Students Scholarships for Hispanics

Hispanic communities face educational issues similar to other minority groups, including the need for adequate funding for schools serving minority and disadvantaged students, as well as other issues with a special impact on the community:

• Student achievement gaps need to be aggressively addressed. For example, the percentage of Hispanics age 25 and older with a high school diploma or more was 52.4 percent in the 2000 census, compared to 85.5 percent for Whites. In addtion, the percentage of Hispanics with bachelor's degrees or more was 10.4 percent, compared to 27 percent of Whites.

• According to census data, approximately 80 percent of all English Language Learners (ELLs) in the U.S. are Hispanic. The majority of these students were born in the U.S. Nationwide, approximately 2.5 percent of teachers who instruct ELL students possess a degree in ESL or bilingual education (NCES, 1997). The absence of ELL programs and teachers impacts ELL student academic achievement. In 2000-2001, of the states that tested ELLs in reading comprehension, only 18.7 percent of ELLs were assessed as being at or above the norm. in the same year, almost 10 percent of ELLs in grades 7-12 were retained. There is a critical need for more ELL programs and a need to train and recruit more ELL teachers to serve this rapidly growing student population.

• Many schools throughout the country are implementing strategies to meet the unique needs of Hispanic students. Using sensitive planning, cultural understanding, community outreach, parental involvement, and appropriate pedagogy, Hispanic students are experiencing academic success. Increased use and distribution of these models would assist greater numbesr of Hispanic students.

• Although there are exceptions, students from poor family backgrounds tend to do poorly in school. They usually attend schools with inferior resources, lack access to health care, and often live in families that can't advocate for them. The 2000 census reported the poverty rate for Hispanics was 22.6 percent. Because Hispanics tend to have larger families than other groups, the poverty rate for Hispanic children in 2004 was 28.6 percent. Parental involvement, summer learning programs, and access to social services, including health care, are especially important to poor Hispanic children.

Student Achievement

Missouri Teacher's Work Earns NEA Award for Boosting Hispanic Graduation Rates
Not willing to accept the growing Hispanic dropout rate at Springfield's (Mo.) Central High School, Alicia Traub, a daughter of American missionaries raised in Argentina, launched a Latino Bulldog Club for Hispanic students considered academically "at-risk." (2007)

NEA Study Reveals Challenges to Hispanic Students
Check out A Report on the Status of Hispanics in Education: Overcoming a History of Neglect  to see how language, cultural, and socioeconomic obstacles impede the academic achievement of students. Hispanics have poverty rates that are two to nearly three times higher than whites; and 40 percent of their population is foreign born. (March 2007)

Educator, Migrant Rights Activist Dolores Huerta Tells Educators How to Help Children Learn
In a recent interview she said, migrant children shouldn't "be made to feel inferior. They should be proud of their parents. Farm workers do the most important work in the world: they feed the nation (NEA Today Extra, 2006).

"Examples of Excelencia" Awarding Hispanic Success in Education
The University of Texas at El Paso and the Maricopa Community Colleges in Arizona, received the 2006 “Examples of Excelencia” award, for promoting Hispanic excellence in education. “These programs, which improve Latino student access and success, are true national models for broadening educational opportunities for our fastest-growing population,” said former U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley, an honorary board member of 'Excelencia in Education.'

Resources from other organizations

Pre-K and Latinos: The Foundation for America's Future  (PDF)
This report shows that, by providing Latino children with culturally and linguistically appropriate services in high-quality, pre-k-for-all programs, educators and policymakers can help close the achievement gap and make a major contribution to realizing this growing population's remarkable potential. (July 2006)
Executive summary - English (PDF)
Executive summary - Spanish  (PDF) 

Diverse Educators Critical to Quality Teaching -- en español  
In increasing demand are teachers with math, science and special education backgrounds. But not enough attention has been paid to the critical need to recruit teachers with racially and ethnically diverse backgrounds. (November 2005)

Ensuring The Immigrant's Daughter, CEO's Son Have Same Opportunities
NEA knows that making sure all students meet high standards under NCLB and its requirements to close achievement gaps cannot happen without teachers meeting high standards and an infusion of new resources (October 2002).

Giving Migrants the Gift of Literacy
It's 9:30 a.m. at Denee's Trailer Park in Apopka, Florida, and while many migrant parents are working in local fields, fisheries, or nurseries, others are huddled in the trailer-turned-classroom where NEA member Sonia Mariani-Hendrickson is about to start a lesson on literacy (October 2002).

Reaching Hispanic Readers
The Young Readers Summer Program shows young Hispanic students that reading skills are valuable in any language. (October 2001)

Harvesting Success for Migrant Students
First days of school always used to intimidate Rosa Maria Rodriguez growing up, because she knew the teacher would make them write about their summer vacation. What summer vacation? Getting up at 5 a.m. to help her mother make tortillas. Working the fields 10 hours a day. This is summer vacation for many migrant students. Growing up as a migrant laborer gave this Texas elementary teacher insight  into the influence educators have on their students' futures (October 2000).

Social Security Privatization: A Bad Deal for Hispanic Communities
Individuals with identical earnings histories are treated the same in terms of benefits. However, Social Security Administration statistics show that due to certain demographic trends, Hispanic communities benefit from the Social Security program in several ways.

'Focus On' Series

Special Education and English Language Learners ( , 390 KB,  6pp) -
Research shows that 80 percent of the referrals to special education are generated from teachers’ concerns over reading problems (Snow, Burns, and Griffin.1998).
Previous research indicated an overrepresentation of English language learners in special education classes (Yates & Ortiz, 1998). However, current research suggests
that educators appear to be doing a better job distinguishing a learning disability from language differences. (2007)

Learning about Each Other's Culture (  161 KB, 2pp) 
Before embarking on a brief review of U.S. immigration history as it affects Hispanics, let’s dispel some myths and falsehoods about earlier generations of immigrants. (2006)

Closing the achievement gap and breaking down barriers to learning (  149 KB)
Today’s Hispanic children will be a significant percentage of tomorrow’s working adults in little over a decade. The importance of educational performance has never been more important for Hispanic communities, families, and individuals and for the nation as a whole. (2005)

Member profiles

Diversity Pioneer Goes Green
Most gardeners dabble in a few types of plants that interest them most, spending an hour or two planting and pulling weeds when they can. Then there's Sara Flores.

Latino Member Climbs Mountains to Level Playing Field
When Elias Chapas of Ypsilanti, Mich. told his high school guidance counselor he wanted to be a teacher, the response wasn't encouraging. "Why don't you go to work in the factory making cars" suggested the counselor, "like the rest of your kind."

Lesson ideas

Lessons for Hispanic Heritage Month
Each year from September 15 to October 15 is National Hispanic Heritage Month. From a Spanish phrase book to letters to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, check out these eight interdisciplinary lessons for all grade levels. They'll help students learn about the cultures and contributions of people of Hispanic heritages.

Lesson Idea: Write a Hispanic Folktale
Grades 3-8 write a folktale modeled after tales from Hispanic cultures read and heard in class.

Lesson Idea: For the Beans
Students grow vegetables, such as corn, beans, squash, and chilies, often used in recipes in Hispanic cultures.

Celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month: September 15 - October 15
Each year, Americans observe National Hispanic Heritage Month, from September 15 to October 15, by celebrating the histories, cultures, and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America.

Education Terms Translated
Check out this English-to-Spanish glossary of education terms.

Bilingual book list
In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month (celebrated September 15 - October 15) NEA's Read Across America shares this bilingual reading list of titles for K-12.

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