Uncertain aspirations: Latino students and dropout in the United States

ABSTRACT

Latinos are one of the fastest growing and most racially diverse students in American schools. Driven by immigration, they account for more than 24% of the kindergarten to high school population. Despite their numbers, the achievement gap between Latinos and their non-Latino peers remains wide since they have the highest rate of dropout. Using data from the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009, we find that Latino students who attend more than one school during their academic career are more likely to dropout than those who do not. We also find lower rates of dropout among children of parents who stated that they did not have difficulties interacting with school administrators due to language barriers. With regards to migration, we do not find immigrant status to be significant in dropout – a noteworthy effect given the increases in raids and deportation by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

KEYWORDS:

• Latino education
• dropout
• mobility
• immigration

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. K-12 is a term used in the United States for secondary schools prior to college. These grades are kindergarten (K) up until the 12th grade.

2. According to ICE, sensitive locations include schools, hospitals, places of worship, and sites for public religious ceremonies like funerals or weddings.

3. Ixil-Maya and K’iché are two Mayan languages spoken in Guatemala. Ch’orti’-Maya is spoken in Guatemala, northwestern Honduras, and El Salvador.

4. Some employers (i.e. within banking and several military branches) prefer to hire employees who have completed traditional 4-year high school degrees rather than those who earned a GED.

5. Due to constraints within the data, we cannot determine the legality of students, i.e. whether they are undocumented or legally present in the country. Instead, we distinguish between native-born and foreign-born Latino students.

6. While there are some variables with composite measures (comprising data of both parents) the HSLS: 09 do not include these composites on all parental variables. So we focus primarily on the responses of the parent identified as the primary caregiver.

7. With the end of DACA in September 2017, President Trump gave Congress 6 months to come up with a legislative version of the policy. By March 2018, multiple federal judges ruled that the justification the Trump administration was using to terminate the program was illegal and ordered the renewals of existing DACA permits. The Supreme Court also ruled to uphold the decision of the lower courts.