Education’s Hispanic Challenge

Two family characteristics are consistently associated with educational attainment: the level of education of
parents and the material resources available to support the education of the children. Hispanic parents have a
lower level of education than any other group, and Hispanic income is lower than any other group except
African Americans. Hispanic children are underrepresented in preschool. On average, by age 13 Hispanic
children are two years behind non-Hispanic white students in English and four years behind in science.
Hispanic high school students are less likely to be enrolled in college preparatory courses. The cumulative
effect is that Hispanics, especially those of Mexican ancestry, are less likely to attend and complete college than
any other ethnic group. Only 7 percent of Mexicans aged 25 to 37 have completed college.
The reduced likelihood that native-born Hispanics will complete college does not point to a rapid assimilation
into the American economic mainstream.

The cause of the disparity is a combination of school, parental, cultural, and
structural factors, including inadequate school financing, school segregation, low socioeconomic status of
parents, and low educational level of parents. According to the author, the upgrading of the educational
attainment of Hispanic children will require intervening beyond the classroom, and probably will require
experimenting with more involvement of parents and communities—an effort that will have to be sustained over the
long term.