Latino Dropouts on Rise, Study Finds

The Latino population in the United States is burgeoning but the proportion of Latinos who finish high school is not keeping pace with gains among blacks and other minority groups, according to an analysis released Sunday.

“The long-term costs of a failure to adequately educate large numbers of Hispanics in this country is enormous,” the American Council on Education said in its ninth annual report on the status of minorities in education.

Latinos, while rapidly growing as a portion of the U.S. population, “are grossly under-represented on every rung of the educational ladder,” the report said.

In 1989, there were more than 20 million Latinos in the United States, or 8.2% of the population. Between 1980 and 1989, the Latino population grew 39% while the total U.S. population was rising 9.4%.

High school completion among Latinos ages 18 to 24 dropped to 55.9% in 1989, from 62.9% in 1985, the report said. The rate was 51.9% in 1972.

In contrast to the pattern among Latinos, the graduation rate among blacks rose to 76.1% in 1989, from 66.7% in 1972.