Advancing the Quality and Equity of Education for Latino Students: A White Paper

Abstract

This white paper provides an overview of the issues that affect the quality and equity of education in grades K-16 for Latino students in the United States. This paper is organized chronologically to reflect the typical educational timeline for students in the United States, and we focused on several key transition points in the educational timeline: from elementary school to middle school, from middle school to high school, from high school to college, and from a two-year college to a four-year college. Each of these transition points can pose challenges for every student, but in this paper, we focused specifically on the unique challenges that Latino students encounter. It is our hope that this paper will provide an impetus to action and will serve as a guide for future directions for collective research efforts on the critical issues regarding the education of Latino students in the 21st century.Key words: Latino students; Hispanic students; academic achievement; educational transitions; student demographics ii Executive SummaryToday, the state of education for Latino students in the United States is at a crisis point.The loss of human and social capital that results from the underachievement of Latino students is a significant barrier for our country in meeting the demand for an educated and talented workforce to compete globally in the 21st century. On an individual level, when Latino students are not provided with the same opportunity to receive a world-class education as other students, they are denied the chance to fully realize their potential as students, workers, and citizens. The present conditions of education for Latino students will not improve unless concerted efforts are made to effect change from educators, politicians, policy makers, researchers, and parents. ETS, as the world's leading assessment organization, should play a central role in advancing the quality and equity of education for Latino students in the United States through our work in assessment, research, and outreach. This goal is the very embodiment of our corporate mission to advance quality and equity in education for all people worldwide.As a step toward meeting this goal, this white paper was commissioned by ETS. It was written to provide an overview of the issues that affect the quality and equity of education in grades K-16 for Latino students in the United States. The paper is organized chronologically to reflect the typical educational timeline for students in the United States. We focused on several key transition points in the educational timeline: from elementary school to middle school, from middle school to high school, from high school to college, and from a two-year college to a fouryear college. Each of these transition points can pose challenges for every student, but in this paper, we focused specifically on the unique challenges that Latino students encounter.To preview the ideas and topics in the white paper, we highlight three key findings on the current status of education for Latino students in Am...

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