Graduation gap continues to narrow for Latino high school students

*Nowhere near where it should be, but the trend is encouraging. When you consider what a high school diploma does to prepare a young person for today’s workforce, the road ahead looms large. The next questions to ask are how many of those graduates require remediation in higher education, and how many of them graduate with a professional degree or certification? Still, a step at a time is the only way to get there. VL

By Cristina Arreola, Latina

Good news on the education front: Latino students are closer to closing the graduation gap with their white, non-Hispanic peers.

According to data from the National Center For Education Statistics, the national graduation rate for Hispanic students increased from 71 percent in the 2010-2011 school year to 76.3 percent in 2013-2014. However, Latino students still lag behind their white peers; non-Hispanic whites — who graduated 87.2 percent of the time. Blacks also saw gains, increasing their graduation rates from 67 to 72.5 percent.

Texas had the highest graduation rate for Latino: 85.5 percent.

On Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced that American graduation rates have improved for four straight years. “The hard work of teachers, administrators, students and their families has made these gains possible, and as a result many more students will have a better chance of going to college, getting a good job, owning their own home and supporting a family,” he said.

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