Census: Hispanic Dropout Numbers Up

WASHINGTON (AP) April 20, 2004 - The number of Hispanics who dropped out or never attended high school surged by over 50 percent in the 1990s, especially in the South and West where many schools struggled to accommodate the fast-growing Spanish-speaking population.

The changing demographics present a tough task, particularly to small-town and rural school administrators who must find money in their tight budgets to hire bilingual staffers and develop new programs to teach newly arrived students who may not have a good grasp of English.

In 2000, approximately 1.56 million U.S. residents ages 16 to 19 were not high school graduates and not enrolled in school.

Of the total, nearly 34 percent, or more than 528,000, were Hispanic. That's up from 22 percent, or nearly 346,000, of the 1.59 million total in 1990.

The dramatic change in the percentage is due partly to the overall growth in the Hispanic population during the 1990s to 35.3 million, rivaling blacks as the nation's largest minority group. Hispanics represented nearly 16 percent of all 16- to 19-year-olds in 2000, regardless of educational background, up from 11 percent in 1990.

While the number of Hispanic dropouts and those who never attended high school grew by nearly 53 percent, the overall population of Hispanic youths of that age grew by about 45 percent.

Yet the increase in Hispanic dropouts is also due to small school districts that lack the money, staffing and programs to help new immigrants adapt to U.S. schools and overcome language barriers, Marco Zarate, a Hispanic education advocate from Apex, N.C.

"The No. 1 reason that dropout rates are higher for Hispanics is not work-related and it's not family-related,'' said Zarate, president of the nonprofit group North Carolina Society of Hispanic Professionals. Over 25 percent of the dropouts in his state were Hispanic in 2000, up from about 2 percent in 1990.

"It is school-related. If a child is doing well in school, if he or she feels part of the school, they are not going to drop out,'' he said.

The lure of a quick paycheck lured others to avoid school entirely.

"For some, it may not be that they are dropping out of school, but rather that people are coming here and not going to school to begin with,'' said Jennifer Day, an education analyst with the Census Bureau.

Nationally, dropout rates decreased slightly over the decade: the 1.56 million dropouts in 2000 represented nearly 10 percent of the total population of 16- to 19-year-olds, regardless of educational status. In 1990, the 1.59 million dropouts were over 11 percent of the older teens then.

Among all Hispanics ages 16 to 19, about 21 percent, did not graduate from high school or were not enrolled in school, down slightly from nearly 21.6 percent in 1990. Among blacks of that age, the dropout rate was 12 percent, down from 14 percent. For whites, it was just below 7 percent, down from 9 percent.

However, when looking at just dropouts, Hispanic representation increased, while the percentage who were black declined from 14.9 to 14.3 percent. Among whites, it decreased from 58 percent to 44 percent.

Raul Gonzalez, education policy analyst with the Hispanic advocacy group, the National Council of La Raza, pointed to the importance of creating new methods to address the shifting demographics, such as allowing those teens who must work more than four years to get their high school diploma without penalty, or creating work-study programs

"It's not going to be cheap to educate these kids,'' he said.

Expanding English as a Second Language funding and creating more flexible class scheduling may also help, said Richard Fry, a researcher with the nonpartisan Pew Hispanic Center.

The school district in Harlingen, Texas, along the U.S.-Mexico border, has long had a large Hispanic student population. To combat the dropout problem there, the district opened a separate school devoted to helping students who had fallen behind to catch up to their grade level.

Teens must apply to the specialized school. Class sizes are smaller. One program aimed at students over 17 who have not finished high school contains many teenage parents and allows them to finish at their own pace.

"The basis of the program is not to let students get discouraged, but to keep them from falling behind,'' said school counselor Oscar Solis.

Schools in New Hanover County, N.C., find themselves in a different situation. Don Oesterbo, who runs a program there that incorporates playing lacrosse as an activity to keep potential dropouts in school, said more Hispanic students have arrived in the last five years.

"A lot of these kids, they have the ability, but even once they become proficient (in English), they may back off,'' he said. Some students tell themselves that "just finish until you are 16 and you can write yourself off from school.''