The high school dropout rate among Hispanics has seen a steady decline since 1990. Even a delineation between gender, income level, and years of school completed prior to dropout has shown decreases across the board in the trends for Hispanics deciding not to finish high school or pursue college enrollment. The numbers are actually quite encouraging, starting at a 12.1% dropout rate among Hispanics and dropping to almost half that number at 6.5% in the year 2014.
If we look at a key demographic more closely, 18 to 24 years of age, the numbers demonstrate a 32% dropout rate in the year 2000 down to 12% in 2014 among that Latinos. That drop contributed to the national dropout rate among all ethnicities from 12% to 7% along the same time frame. But even with this significant decrease, Hispanics are still more likely to drop out of school than black students at 7%, white students at 5% and Asian students with 1%.
There are some statistics that show an increase in behavior on the part of Hispanics enrolling in college courses. Those numbers have gone up in conjunction with the lower drop out rates over the past twenty-five years. The year 2014 saw 35% of Hispanics in the same 18-24 age group entering a two or four year program of higher learning, which was up from 22% in 1993. This 13 point increase represented roughly 2 million additional college students of Hispanic descent in the country’s college system for the year 2014. The 13 point bump is more than black students with 8 points, whites at 5 points, and Asians with 9 point increase during that same time span.
What does this all mean? It shows us that education has become more important among the Hispanic community and schooling has grown to take a larger role in the lives of Hispanic children, teenagers, and young adults pursuing an education so that they are better prepared for their future.
The Latino Family Literacy Project are experts in working with Hispanic parents and students in College Awareness. Teachers attend training in order to provide the program to parents and students at their middle school or high school and can be trained via a webinar.