Arizona minorities have high dropout rates, UA study finds
Few Arizona minority students survive middle school, graduate high school and attend college, a study by three UA professors indicated in October.
"What the study- does is identify problem areas," said John Garci´a, University of Arizona political science professor and researcher for the study, which was sponsored by the Arizona Minority Education Policy Analysis Center. "It's a partnership between research and advocacy groups."
Results of the eight-month study showed approximately 48 percent of Hispanics and American Indians - Arizona's two largest minority groups - do not graduate high school.
"Usually dropout occurs as a (high school) freshman," said Adela de la Torre, researcher and director of the UA Mexican American Studies and Research Center. "If they get to the 12th grade they're OK."
Of the 92,000 Mexicans surveyed, 17 percent quit school between fifth and eighth grades, and fewer than 12 percent made it past 11th grade.
"The transition between middle school and high school is where most students are lost," Garci´a said. "It's a leaky spot."
Factors such as nationality, finances and available resources contribute to the low number of minority high school graduates, Garci´a said.
"Immigrants themselves don't do well in education, but their children are more successful," he said.
Arturo Gonzlez, researcher and assistant professor of economics at the Mexican American Studies and Research Center, said lax curriculum requirements and grading contribute to the dropout rate.
"Some of it has to do with the school and home not challenging students," he said. "They have to challenge students and expect that they're going to go to college. Excellence needs to be taught and expected."
The study indicates fewer than 3 percent of American Indians surveyed received a bachelor's degree, while more than 17 percent of whites did.
The University of Arizona population is 13 percent Hispanic and 2.1 percent American Indian or Alaska Native. Hispanics account for 19 percent of the state's population, while American Indians comprise 5 percent.
The state is taking measures to improve the dropout rates.
Initiatives, such as the school-to-work program, help students learn the skills necessary to find employment, such as oral and written communication, analytical concepts and psychology.
"School-to-work is trying to correspond between educators and businesses," Garci´a said. "There is a partnership."
Research shows that people with some college education, but without a degree, earn $2,500 more per year than those with no college education. Community college graduates earn $4,000 more than people who complete high school, and those with a bachelor's degree earn about $14,000 more.
About 31 percent of Hispanics and 34 percent of American Indians are laborers, the study found.
"We have a very robust economy right now, but there are a lot of inequalities," de la Torre said.
Arizona touts the nation's second highest job growth rate and has an unemployment rate of 4.1 percent - one of the lowest in the nation since 1970.
The study, which cost about $19,000, found students who quit after 11th grade cost $124 per person a year in lost tax revenue.
The Arizona Department of Education contacted de la Torre about doing further research, but Gonzlez said the state needs to take action.
"They need to do things to remedy what the report said. It's a wake up call," Gonzlez said.
Stephanie Corns can be reached via e-mail at Stephanie.Corns@wildcat.arizona.edu.
Distribution of highest grade completed for heads of households
Highest Grade Completed Mexicans Other Hispanics Native Americans
No Schooling 4.3% 1.5% 2.9%
1st. - 4th Grades 6.2% 2.0% 1.6%
5th. - 8th Grades 17% 8.6% 9.9%
9th Grade 5.0% 3.3% 3.0%
10th Grade 5.5% 4.9% 6.8%
11th Grade 11.3% 9.9% 15.4%
High School 26.5% 25.5% 34.2%
Some College 15.7% 22.9% 17.7%
Associate's 4.4% 7.8% 5.3%
Bachelor's 3.0% 9.7% 2.3%
Master's 0.7% 2.0% 0.7%
Ph.D., Prof. 0.5% 1.9% 0.36
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