PEDAZITO MIO!

THE LATINO ACHIEVEMENT GAP

Why Latinos are the Least Educated Despite Being the Majority Minority

As parents, we teach our children that with education, hard work, and dedication we can achieve our biggest dreams. Latinos are the largest minority, yet we have the largest education gap with the lowest graduation rates.

Many factors have led to the gap in the education of Latinos: Lower quality of schools and teachers, standardized testing, social and financial class, language barriers, and discrimination.

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What is an Achievement Gap?

An achievement gap is a persistent and significant disparity in academic performance between different groups of students (e.g. males and females, white students and minorities, higher-income and lower-income students). The most common measures of achievement gaps are standardized test scores, GPAs, high school drop out rates, and college enrollment and completion rates (Benokraitis, 2019 p257).

Education Quality

Most Latinos live in urban and low-income neighborhoods where schools often experience federal, state, and local budget cuts. Consequently, schools are over student capacity, staffed with less qualified teachers, have a high teacher turnover, inadequate facilities, outdated books, and school buildings that are falling apart. As stated by Kozol (2015), schools in low-income neighborhoods teach obedience, following directions, and punctuality so that students can fill low-paid jobs that require these characteristics (Benokraitis, 2019, p258). All these elements lead to an inferior education quality, especially when compared to that of high-income neighborhoods where the majority are white students.

Approximately 79% of teachers in America are white. More Latino instructors in the education system that are familiar with students’ culture and discipline could significantly improve their education. Many Latino children believe that they are disciplined more harshly than white peers for the same behavior. Students’ perceptions of their teachers are crucial and can lead to distrust and disengagement. Veronica Clack, a bilingual education consultant at Region 10 ESC in Garland, Texas states that many Latino children in low-income schools learn better when their instructor understands their background and way of learning. Teachers can then adjust their curriculum to be better understood by students.

Standardized Testing

Every year millions of students take one of the many standardized tests like STAAR, ACT, SATs, and AP. These tests exclude many Latinos from higher education, reflect accumulated life advantages and disadvantages, and create an unsuccessful learning environment. Many standardized exams are written to relate to higher-income white students. The language and terminology used in these exams are usually irrelevant in Latino student’s life which make exams much more difficult. “These exams have problems that Latino children don’t understand, there was a question about a duvet cover in an exam and my student had no idea what a duvet was”, states Clack as she discusses how exams are written in a way that benefits those in higher social classes. Standardized testing pressures teachers to teach basic math and English excluding problem-solving skills, reasoning, science, and social studies (Benokraitis, 2019 p262). Many teachers and students are unprepared to teach and take these tests resulting in low grades and leaving them feeling like failures and inferior.

Social & Financial Class

Those with higher social and financial classes reap the benefits of attending schools with more resources like tutors, high-quality books, and more funding due to higher property taxes. Children with parents that have graduate or professional degrees are more likely to be enrolled in preschool, kindergarten, or daycare programs that provide educational experiences. Early learning development is an advantage that many Latino children do not get to experience. Low-income families tend to have students with lower educational proficiency.

Language Barriers

Not all Latino students are Spanish speaking only. For those students of immigrant children who do not speak English, adjusting to school can be much more difficult. A new society and environment are enough to overwhelm any new student. ESL classes are now much more sparce and add pressure to Latino students to adjust or fail. Non-English-speaking students miss out on opportunities and are more likely to fall behind.

Discrimination

Discrimination and segregation of students is still a major obstacle Latino student face in the education system. Students live up or down to a teachers’ expectations and evaluations that are influenced by cultural stereotypes and social class. Latino student’s experience discrimination and bias with the treatment of their instructors. Students are taught and disciplines based on their background. For Latino students this can be damaging to their self-esteem, educational motivation, and mental health. These students are more likely to be disengage and participate less.