Book Looks at the Social and Educational Landscape for Latinos in the US
For immediate release:
Contact Patricia Gándara: 310-267-5562; gandara@gseis.ucla.edu.
Los Angeles — November 24, 2008 — A new book from The Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles (CRP/PDC) at UCLA's Graduate School of Education and Information Studies looks at the social and educational landscape for Latinos in the US, highlights programs that show promise, and offers policy recommendations. The Latino Education Crisis: The Consequences of Failed Social Policies is authored by CRP Co-Director, Professor Patricia Gándara and Frances Contreras, professor at University of Washington.
Latinos are the largest and fastest growing minority group in the nation. By the year 2050, there will be more Latino than white students if existing trends continue. Yet Latinos drop out of high school at alarming rates and have made virtually no progress in level of college completion over more than two decades. The group with the lowest academic achievement will soon become the majority of the population in significant parts of the country. Some economists have predicted a serious downturn by 2020 in the economies of those states with high Latino populations if something is not done immediately to reverse these trends. The causes of this educational stagnation have been attributed previously to various factors: immigration, language differences, and a culture that places a low value on education.
The first book to take a comprehensive look at the social and educational landscape for Latinos in the US, The Latino Education Crisis analyzes existing data and finds support for none of these explanations. Instead, it argues that as the country has undergone a dramatic reduction in opportunities for low income and working class people, social policies that have failed to support Latino families appear to be the greatest cause. It highlights programs that show promise and offers policy recommendations that can set the nation on a more hopeful path.
"Gándara and Contreras delineate the Latino education crisis with empirical rigor, conceptual clarity, and humane concern."
— Carola and Marcelo Suárez-Orozco, Co-directors of the Center on Immigration Studies, New York University
The Latino Education Crisis can be ordered through Harvard Press.
