A study released by the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center
asserts that Latinas are few in the University of California system
because of a lack of access to academic enrichment programs early
on in their education.
The study, published in late January, found that while Latinas
make up half of all California girls in kindergarten, they have a
high school drop out rate two to three times that of whites. And
they only account for 9 percent of women in the University of
California.
Based on California Department of Education data, the study
suggests that the low number of Latinas in the elementary school
Gifted and Talented Education program and in high school advanced
placement classes is a probable factor for the discrepancy in
higher education enrollment.
“The thing underlying this is the importance of these
academic enhancement programs,” said Chon Noriega, professor
and CSRC director.
“These programs essentially provide a much stronger
pipeline to the University of California system,” he
said.
Latinas make up 43 percent of girls enrolled in California
public schools compared to the 36 percent whites account for.
Meanwhile, 52 percent of girls in GATE are white compared to 21
percent Latina.
The report calls for the state to “evaluate the
program’s identification and assessment methods” so
Latinas are not “Gated-Out” from eventual enrollment in
advanced-level high school courses.
“At every point in the educational pipeline, torrential
leakages harm educational outcomes for Latino/a students,”
the study said.
Noriega said his researchers have gone back to examine the
admissions criteria for such programs, finding that it differs
across the state.
“No statewide standards or uniformity exist,”
Noriega said. “Not every school is using fair criteria for
admissions.”
The study seeks to understand why these disparities in academic
enhancement program involvement exist. It includes a half-dozen
questions about what the state can do to help, but offers no
answers to its own inquiries.
The research, however, will not end there. Noriega emphasizes
that the lack of accountability on the local level needs to be
looked into more closely in order to determine what should be done
both locally and in Sacramento.
A related study released last week by The Center for the Study
of Latino Health and Culture found that approximately half of all
babies born in California and 63.5 percent of babies born in Los
Angeles County are Latino.
“For the next 40 years, each new phase of human
development ““ child, adolescence, young adult and middle age
““ will be experienced in this state by a Latino
majority,” said David-Hayes Bautista, director of the center,
in the report.
The education of this huge number of Latino and Latina children
will become a very important issue, Noriega said.
Researchers are worried that outreach programs designed to help
Latinos advance to higher education might be cut in light of the
state’s current budget problems.
“With the budget crisis, this is the burning issue;
usually the last thing on is the first thing off,” Noriega
said, referring to last November’s successful passing of
Proposition 209.
Released as a Latino Policy and Issues Brief, the CSRC’s
report is part of a series of studies articulating important social
issues facing the Latino community.
The brief as it exists now is limited ““ the document is
only two pages long ““ but a more extensive version of the
study is expected to be released at a later date.
For more info, visit www.sscnet.ucla.edu/esp/csrc.