Latinos have the lowest education attainment level of any group in the U.S., and improving that statistic will be a big issue as the government faces its upcoming “fiscal cliff,” according to recent federal data.
Roughly half of U.S. Latinos get their high school diploma on time, and those who do finish are half as likely as other students to be ready for college. About 13 percent of Latinos have a bachelor’s degree, and 4 percent have completed graduate or professional degree programs, according to a recent Voxxi.com article.
President Obama has said achievement among the quickly-growing number of Latino students is vital if the U.S. wants to be the country with the highest proportion of college graduates in the world. Obama has focused on improving pre-K and early childhood instruction among Latinos.
There are more than 12.4 million Latinos enrolled in K-12 schools, with about one in five U.S. students identifying as Hispanic. Last year the Obama administration outlined steps to improve educational achievement among Latinos.
The Head Start and Early Head Start programs promote school readiness by ramping up the cognitive and social development of children through education, health, nutritional, social, and other services. Thirty-six percent of Head Start children are Latino, the largest of any minority group.
Obama’s budget request, now being scrutinized by Congress, increases Head Start and Early Head Start funding by $866 million to $8.1 billion.
