The report, "The State of Latinos and Education in Massachusetts: 2010," issued by UMass-Boston’s Mauricio Gaston Institute, faulted Massachusetts on a number of fronts for failing to properly educate Latino students.
According to the report, Latino students miss about 13 days of school a year compared to white students, who miss about nine days. In some schools districts, such as Springfield, the Latino absence rate is 17 days, said Andrew Flannery Aguilar, the institute’s education policy and research fellow and one of the report’s authors.
"This is the kind of thing that keeps me up at night," said Aguilar. "How are you supposed to succeed if you’re not in class?"
Education experts say the high absence rates are major warning signs about potential dropouts.
The report also said that the Latino four-year graduation rate was 60 percent in 2009 compared to 82 percent statewide. In addition, the report found that the out-of-school suspension rate for Latino students was 11 percent compared to 4 percent of white students. Black students had the highest out-of-school suspension rate at 13 percent. READ MORE
Comments