Friday, May 14, 2010

Report: FEW HISPANIC HIGH SCHOOL DROPOUTS EARN G.E.D.

By The Associated Press from  Edweek

14 May – Miami -- A report released Thursday by the Pew Hispanic Center found that one in 10 Hispanic students who drop out of high school go on to earn a General Equivalency Development degree.

Educators and students say limited outreach, immigration and pressure to work may be to blame.

Using data from the Census Bureau, researchers found that fewer Hispanic students earn a GED credential than white or black dropouts. Black students earned a GED at a rate of two in 10. For white students, the rate is three in 10.

The nonpartisan research organization says the lower rate among Hispanics is notable because they also have higher dropout rates: 41 percent of Latinos ages 20 or older do not have a regular high school degree, compared to 23 percent of blacks and 14 percent of whites.

Richard Fry, a senior research associate at the center, said some of the Hispanics who did not finish high school are immigrants who may not have had any educational training in the United States. For these students, it takes time to learn and access information about earning a U.S. educational credential.

According to the report, the longer foreign-born Latinos without a high school degree are in the United States, the more likely they are to earn a GED.

But Fry said a puzzle still remains: Hispanics born in the United States who drop out of high school are also unlikely to have a GED. The report found that only 21 percent earn the credential.

"We do not know precisely why," Fry said. "I would speculate that school districts and community service organizations do not as effectively promote and recruit Hispanic dropouts into GED preparation programs as white dropouts."

The report notes that a GED is a crucial step forward: Four in 10 students with a GED pursue additional education, compared to only 1 in 10 of those without an alternative degree. Students with a GED are also able to apply and enroll in degree-granting colleges and universities.

Arayzel Barragan, 24, dropped out of high school about five years ago after her father became ill. In the years after, Barragan, who immigrated with her family from Panama when she was 9, got married and had a child. She enrolled in GED courses at a school in Miami earlier this year.

She said some Latino students are undocumented and fearful to enroll, concerned it will somehow affect their immigration status; others are scared about learning a new language.

"It took me five years to learn," Barragan said between classes on Thursday.

Other students at The English Center, an adult educational center in Miami, where more than 200 students are enrolled in GED classes, said it can be a challenge to find out where and how to take the classes — with most of the information coming word of mouth through friends and family.

"It's a lack of information," said Catherine Pacheco, 18, who immigrated from Nicaragua six months ago and is taking English classes before beginning her GED.

Teachers at the school also said that for some Latino students, helping support their parents and families takes precedence over earning the degree.

"It concerns me when there's an opportunity to get a higher education, and they can't," said Dr. Maritza Barrios, the school's vocational department chair. "And it's very sad when a child comes up to you and they say they have to leave to help their mother pay the rent."

From the Pew Hispanic Center: 5.13.2010 | http://bit.ly/bwNdWm

Hispanics, High School Dropouts and the GED

by Richard Fry, Senior Research Associate, Pew Hispanic Center

Report Materials

Download PDF Complete Report

Other Resources

Just one-in-ten Hispanic high school drop-outs has a General Educational Development (GED) credential, widely regarded as the best "second chance" pathway to college, vocational training and military service for adults who do not graduate high school. By contrast, two-in-ten black high school drop-outs and three-in-ten white high school drop-outs has a GED, according to a Pew Hispanic Center analysis of newly-available educational attainment data from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2008 American Community Survey.

The relatively low level of GED credentialing among Hispanic high school drop-outs is especially notable because Hispanics have a much higher high school drop-out rate than do blacks or whites. Some 41% of Hispanic adults age 20 and older in the United States do not have a regular high school diploma, compared with 23% of black adults and 14% of white adults.

Among Hispanics, there are significant differences between the foreign born and the native born in high school diploma attainment rates and GED credentialing rates.  Some 52% of foreign-born Latino adults are high school drop-outs, compared with 25% of the native born. And among Hispanic drop-outs, some 21% of the native born have a GED, compared with just 5% of the foreign born.

This Pew Hispanic Center report also analyzes labor market outcomes of Hispanic adults based on whether they dropped out of high school and lack a GED; have a GED; or obtained at least a regular high school diploma. Among its key findings:

  • As of 2008, Hispanic adults with a GED had a higher unemployment rate than Hispanic adults with a high school diploma - 9% versus 7%.
  • However, Hispanic full-time, full-year workers with a GED had about the same mean annual earnings ($33,504) as Hispanics full-time, full-year workers with a high school diploma ($32,972).

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