Report: Helping Latina Students Succeed Helps Us All

by James Parks, Aug 28, 2009

In today’s global economy, our nation cannot afford to leave any of our children behind. We must ensure that every girl and boy receives the best education possible to achieve their dreams and that our nation can benefit from their talents.

Yet Latinas, the fastest growing group of school-aged females in the country, are dropping out of school at alarming rates—41 percent—depriving the nation of much-needed young talent.

 A new report shows that Latina students drop out at such high rates because they face more serious barriers to graduating from high school than many of their counterparts. The report, “Listening to Latinas: Barriers to High School Graduation,” released today by the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), addresses the challenges facing Latina high school students in the United States and explores ways to overcome obstacles that undermine their chances of graduating from high school.

Says NWLC Co-President Marcia Greenberger:

To ignore high dropout rates among Latina students is to turn our backs on the American promise of fairness and equality of opportunity. Significant resources should be devoted to improving the graduation rates of Latinas and to ensuring that each young Latina can achieve her dreams and that the country can benefit from her talents.

“Listening to Latinas” incorporates the results of national surveys, interviews and focus groups conducted earlier this year with Latina students and the adults who work with them.

While a large majority of the Latina students surveyed for the report have high aspirations, most think they will not be able to reach their goals because of a slew of barriers and obstacles. Those barriers include poverty, immigration status, language, lack of parental involvement in school, discrimination and stereotyping and pregnancy.

Click here to read the report and here to pledge to help Latina students succeed.

Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) adds: 

As outlined by this report, Latina students, in particular, face greater hurdles to achieving academic success than their male counterparts. In order to ensure that our leaders continue to reflect the racial, ethnic and gender diversity of our nation, we must address these obstacles and provide our students with the resources and support they need.

The report recommends that schools and policymakers develop new policies to improve the odds that young Latinas will graduate from high school and lead successful lives, such as:

• Congress should fully fund quality early childhood education initiatives, including child care with outreach to Latino families. Congress should also expand access to family supports, including housing, health care, nutrition assistance and tax benefits.
• Schools and community programs should undertake initiatives to get all students “college ready.” Congress should fund such initiatives, enact bills to enable immigrant students to attend college, and increase financial support for students in need to secure higher education.
• School officials and the government must rigorously enforce anti-discrimination policies. Schools and policymakers should support dual language programs for English language learners.
• Schools should develop and implement—and federal, state and local governments should fund—parent involvement initiatives for the parents of Latino students, and ensure that Latino parents are made to feel welcome at school.

It will take these and many other changes to ensure that Latina students succeed, says Veronica Rivera, a legislative staff attorney at MALDEF:

Despite the many barriers and challenges they face, Latina students possess a remarkable resiliency and a strong desire to succeed. To make their desire to succeed a reality, young Latina women need the support of their families, their teachers, their communities, and the attention of policymakers.

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