Latino Education Equity Index

The Latino Education Equity Index

The future of the United States and the well-being of all Americans depend on the quality of education that our nation’s children receive. Achieving the American ideal of a society in which there is equal opportunity for all depends on access to high quality learning opportunities and resources that is universal and equitable. We know, however, that we are still far from that ideal, and that there are major differences in both educational opportunities and achievement associated with race, ethnicity and the economic circumstances of students’ families.

Latinos are the fastest growing segment of the US population, but historically have been among the least-well-served by schools. Modest progress is being made in improving educational outcomes for students from all backgrounds, including Latinos, but major gaps in achievement remain, as measured by test scores and in high school and college completion rates. These gaps in educational outcomes seriously limit the life prospects and future earnings potential of Latinos. Further, unless progress is greatly accelerated in narrowing the gaps, the enormous potential contribution of Latinos to the nation’s economic and cultural life will not be realized to its full potential.

In recent years, public policy has brought much needed attention to the necessity of eliminating achievement gaps and for enabling students from all backgrounds to achieve to high standards. Disparities in achievement have been widely publicized through the implementation of the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Receiving much less attention, however, are disparities in access to high quality learning opportunities and resources-both in-school and in the communities where students live.

By juxtaposing educational achievement data with information about access to in-school resources and exposure to out-of-school factors known to be correlated to learning outcomes, The Latino Educational Equity Index is intended to present a more balanced view of educational gaps than is possible from viewing achievement data, alone. There is much that schools can and must do to equalize access to quality educational resources and learning opportunities. It is unrealistic to expect, however, that schools will be able to totally eliminate achievement gaps without also engaging families and community-based organizations, as well as local, state and national government programs and agencies, in a more systematic effort to ensure safe and secure environments that promote the integral development and learning of all children.

There are two modes of viewing the Latino Educational Equity Index:

Indicator View:

Indicator View. In the Indicator view, the various states are ranked relative to each other and to the national average as to the size of the gaps between Latinos and non-Latino whites for various indicators of achievement and exposure/access to in-school and out-of-school learning resources and environments. There are nine achievement indicators and nine learning resource and environment indicators.

Achievement Indicators. There are nine Achievement Indicators. One indicator depicts differences in the rate at which Latino and non-Latino white eighth graders go on to complete high school. The other eight achievement indicators depict data from the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP), a norm-referenced standardized test given periodically to a representative sample of students throughout the country. It is the only nationwide exam given to a representative sample of students that measures students’ knowledge in different subjects. The eight NAEP indicators show differences in the average scores of Latino and non-Latino white students at two grade levels (fourth and eighth grades) and in four subject areas: Reading, Writing, Mathematics, and Science.

Learning Resource and Environment Indicators. There are nine Learning Resource and Environment Indicators, including three that measure in-school factors and six measuring out-of-school factors. The three in-school factors are participation rates in: gifted and talented programs; Advanced Placement (AP) mathematics courses; and AP Science Courses. The first five out-of-school indicators depict differences between Latinos and non-Latino whites in child and family poverty rates, median family income, single-parent households, and single parent households that are also poor. The final graph gives the state-by-state percentages of Spanish-speaking children with limited English proficiency.

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State View:

The state view presents a summary description of the status of Latino and non-Latino white students with regard to the various indicators of achievement and exposure to learning relevant resources described above for each state