New Latino Majority Creates New Challenges for CA Schools

SAN FRANCISCO—With the news that Latinos, for the first time ever, have become the majority in California’s public schools, researchers and educators called on the state to do more to help these students get an education that prepares them for the 21st century.

According to the state Department of Education, 51 percent of students—or 3.1 million—identify as Hispanic. Fifteen years ago, Latinos represented only 37 percent of all public school students in California.

“It’s increasingly urgent for this state to get serious about Hispanic kids because they are the ones doing the least well in school,” says Patricia Gandara, UCLA professor and author of “The Latino Education Crisis: The Consequences of Failed Social Policies.” One-quarter of Latinos drop out of high school.


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