Graduation Rates Rise for Blacks, Whites, Not Latinos

WASHINGTON — While black and white children are graduating from high school in increasing numbers, the dropout rate for Latinos remains an alarmingly high 30%, only slightly less than what it was 25 years ago, according to a government report released Thursday.

Factors traditionally thought to account for the high level of Latinos who don’t complete high school--such as immigrant status and limited English proficiency--do not fully explain the difference in graduation rates between them and their black and white peers, the report added.

The study, compiled by the U.S. Education Department’s National Center for Education Statistics, found a high dropout rate persists even among Latino students who were born in the United States and speak English fluently.

Of Latinos ages 16 to 24 who speak English well, 21.4% did not finish high school. Of those who were born in the United States, 17.9% did not finish. While these rates are considerably lower than the overall rate for Latinos, they still are notably higher than the dropout rates of 8.6% for white students and 12.1% for blacks, according to the report.

“This is the puzzle that we’re left with,” said Marilyn McMillen, the report’s author. “Why are Hispanic dropout rates still high?”

On a positive note, the study found a significant decrease in dropout rates among blacks, to the point where the figure is close to that for white students. The dropout rates among both groups have decreased, but the rate for black students has done so more rapidly.

The report found that the nation’s overall dropout rate in 1995, the latest year for which figures were available, was 12%, down slightly from 14.6% in 1972. California’s dropout rate is about 20%, according to the state Department of Education. In Los Angeles County, more than 28% of students drop out, and in Orange County, 13% of students do so.

In California, 10% of Asian students, 12% of whites, 28% of Latinos and one-third of black students do not complete high school.

The new federal report includes as dropouts those immigrants who entered the U.S. as children without a high school degree and never entered U.S. schools. While this may partially account for the 30% Latino dropout rate, it does not diminish the figure’s significance, according to the report.

“Regardless of the reasons behind their lack of high school credentials, the impact is the same: These young adults do not have the basic level of education that is thought to be essential in today’s economy,” the report says.

The high percentage of Latinos not completing high school may be due to the schools themselves, said Maria Robledo Montecel, executive director of Intercultural Development Research Assn., a nonprofit organization in San Antonio that focuses on equity in education. She has conducted more than 700 interviews with Latinos who have dropped out or are considering doing so.

“Fundamentally, there is an incompatibility between the characteristics of the students and what the schools offer, which results in Hispanic students feeling isolated,” Robledo Montecel said.

The incompatibility includes a lack of bilingual and English as a Second Language programs, the concentration of Hispanics in high-poverty schools, lack of teacher preparation and low expectations for Hispanic students among teachers, administrators and society as a whole, she said.

Socioeconomic status, rather than race, determines the difference in dropout rates between whites and blacks, the report found. The difference in rates between the two groups “disappears when you control for income,” McMillen said. The Latino dropout rate, in contrast, is much higher in all income levels.

In 1972, the dropout rate was 34.3% for Latino students, 21.3% for blacks and 12.3% for whites. Since then, the dropout rate for blacks has fallen more than 9% and is now within 3.5 percentage points of the rate for whites, according to the report.

The center also released a report Thursday painting a mixed picture of the teaching profession in the United States. One key finding was that more than one-third of public school teachers have neither an undergraduate major nor minor in the subject they instruct. In poorer schools, the figure jumps to nearly one-half.

However, teachers are among the nation’s most educated groups, with 99% holding at least a bachelor’s degree and nearly half with more advanced degrees, according to the report.

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Dropout Rates by Group

The dropout rate for Latinos remains roughly what it was 25 years ago, while rates for whites and blacks have dropped.

Persons age 16-24 who have dropped out of high school

‘95

Latinos: 30%

Blacks: 12.1%

Whites: 8.6%

Sources: Department of Commerce, Census Bureau, Current Population Survey