Executive Summary

This data sourcebook is unique. It focuses exclusively on the education of Latinos in Arizona. This resource gives a global overview of an important part of the complex and multi-faceted problems that contribute to the generalized disenfranchisement of this important segment of the population of our state. The data assembled here protray the current status of the education of Arizona Hispanics from preschool to, and through, the university level. It brings together, in one concise volume, the latest information available about this group and its current educational status. This audience includes families, school people, education advocacy groups, community-based organizations, and interested members of the broader community.

The primary audience of this report is the educational "end-user" who wants to understand the problems behind the numbers, and who wants to become engaged in finding ways to make things better. Its purpose is to show how Latino children and youth are faring educationally in comparison with other subgroups and with themselves over time. The sourcebook is grounded on the assumption that by improving things for this important segment of our community, the whole state will benefit from the investment.

This first edition of what we envision to be a renewable and expanding sourcebook, is based on longitudinal and comparative and disaggregated student performance data by Arizona students on the National Assesment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the Arizona Instrument to Measure Standards (AIMS), and the Stanford Achievement Test, ninth edition (SAT-9); high school dropout and graduation rate statistics, as reported by the Arizona Department of Education; college graduation rate and faculty demographics statistics from Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University, and the University of Arizona; and educational attainment levels of Latino adults over age 18, are reported by the U.S. Census. Among the findings are:

The Latino population in Arizona is growing dramatically. Between 1990 and 2000, the Latino population grew an average 8.8% per year. This trend is projected to continue in the coming decades.
On the NAEP Assessment in Reading, Writing, Mathmatics, and Science, administered between 1990 and 2000, there was a downward trend in the percentage of Hispanic children who score better than "below basic," a trend that was not evident for Arizona's non-Hispanic White children
Latino children failed to achieve "at or above basic" at about twice the proportion of non-Hispanic White children on the NAEP Assesments administered between 1990 and 2000.
In 2001, non-Hispanic White and Asian third, fifth and eighth graders predominated at the upper end ("meets" or "exceeds" the standard) of the scale on the AIMS assessments. Hispanic and other children of color predominated at the lower end ("falls far below" or "approaches" the standard) of the scale.
Overall, Latino third, fifth, and eighth grade students performed at the lower end (low to below average) of the scale on the spring 2001 administration of the SAT-9.
In 2000, a little more than half of Latinos in Arizona, age 18 or older, had completed high school.
In 2000-2001, nearly 45% of all high school dropouts in Arizona were Latino, while Latinos were only 31.6% of the total student population in grades 7-12.
Thirty-two percent of Latino students who started high school in 1996 did not graduate in 2000.
In 2000, less than 6% of Latinos in Arizona, age 18 or older, have a bachelor's degree or higher.
In 2000/2001, 31% of grade 7-12 students in Arizona were Latinos. Nineteen percent of community college students in the state were Latinos, but only eleven percent of the students in Arizona's public universities were Latinos.

The report urges all stakeholders in Arizona's economic future to find new ways to work together toward improving education for Latinos, the fastest growing and largest group in Arizona. Included in discussion of the need for comprehensive, broad-based approaches to educational improvement for Latino students and their families - ones that include every one and coordinate multiple strategies, rather than relying stricly on a single special program or intervention that focuses on only a part of the problem. An example of this is the Metro Phoenix ENLACE partnership, a new program that employs a multidisciplinary approach to strengthen the educational pipeline. Metro Phoenix ENLACE and similar programs include K-12, higher education, community-based, and corporate partners, who work together to ensure that greater numbers of Latino students achieve stay in school, graduate from college, and enter professions such as teaching, nursing, social work, and public administration.

As the numbers of Hispanic students grow in the coming decades, so also does their overrepresentation among those poorly prepared for the educational challenges of high school and college promise to grow, unless action is taken to stem this trend. The situation with respect to the education of Hispanics of all ages is desperate. The price of ignoring the problem will be high. We hope this report will help us all recognize the need to move expeditiously.