User:Dcorral4/sandbox

Overview
With the increasing Hispanic population in the United States, Latina/os have had a considerable impact on the K-12 system. In 2011-12, Latina/os comprised 24% of all enrollments in the United States, including 52% and 51% of enrollment in California and Texas, respectively. Further research shows the Latina/os will continue to grow in the United States, implicating that more Latina/os will populate U.S schools.

The state of Latina/o education shows some promise. First, Hispanic students attending pre-K or kindergarten were more likely to attend full-day programs. Second, Latina/os in elementary education were the second largest group represented in gifted and talented programs. Third, Hispanic’s average NAEP math and reading scores have consistently increased over the last 10 years. Finally, Latina/os were more likely than other groups, including whites, to go to college.

However, their academic achievement in early childhood, elementary, and secondary education lag behind other groups. For instance, their average math and reading NAEP scores were lower than every other group, except African Americans, and have the highest dropout rate of any group, 13% despite decreasing from 24%.

To explain these disparities, some scholars have suggested there is a Latina/o “Education Crisis” due to failed school and social policies. To this end, scholars have further offered several potential reasons including language barriers, poverty, and immigrant/nativity status resulting in Latina/os not performing well academically.

English Language Learners
Currently, 80% of Hispanic students in the U.S. are English Language Learners. In 2008-9, 5.3 million students were classified as English Language Learners (ELLs) in pre-K to 12th grade. This is a result of many students entering the education system at different points of their life course, although the majority of ELLs are not foreign born. In order to provide English instruction for Latina/os students there have been a multitude of English Language programs. However, the great majority of these programs are English Immersion that undermine the students’ culture and knowledge of their primary language. As such, there continues to be great debate within schools as to which program can address these language disparities.

Poverty
Poverty affects many underrepresented as racial/ethnic minorities tend stay isolated with pockets of low-income communities. This results in several inequalities, such as “school offerings, teacher quality, curriculum, counseling and all manner of things that both keep students engaged in school and prepare them to graduate." In the case of Latina/os the poverty rate for Hispanic Children in 2004 was 28.6 percent. Moreover, with these lack of resources, schools reproduce these inequalities for generations to come. In order to assuage poverty, many Hispanic families can turn to social and community services as resources.

Immigration Status
Immigrants have not always had access to compulsory education in the United States. However, due to the Landmark Supreme Court Plyler v. Doe in 1982, immigrants are allowed access to K-12 education. This significantly impacted all immigrant groups, including Latina/os. However, their academic achievement is dependent upon several factors including, but not limited to time of arrival and schooling in country of origin. Moreover, Latina/os immigration/nativity status plays a major role regarding their academic achievement. For instance, first- and second- generation Latina/os outperform their later generational counterparts. Additionally, their aspirations appear to decrease as well. This has major implications on their postsecondary futures.