by Jeff Wright of The Register-Guard
A new survey that says parents and schools can better address a worrisome Latino high school dropout rate was conducted by researchers who should have some insight into the problem – Latino students themselves.
The Latino Youth Project Survey, nearly three years in the making, identifies a range of factors – including language barriers, Latino parents’ feelings of exclusion, and outright discrimination – that work against Latino teens reaching graduation.
The survey commissioned by Centro LatinoAmericano and supervised by the Oregon Social Learning Center in Eugene, polled 278 Latino teen-agers and 152 non-Latino teens in Lane County and across the state. Seventy-three Latino parents and 51 non-Latino parents in Lane County also were surveyed.
What makes the survey unique is who helped craft and ask the questions: Latino high school students from the Eugene, Bethel, South Lane and Springfield school districts.
Guided by an adult advisory committee and supported with a Lane Workforce Partnership grant, the students spent a summer studying research methods and distributing the surveys, which were printed in both English and Spanish.
Tonight, the students will present their findings to 200 invited guests – including community leaders, teachers and parents – at the Eugene Hilton.
The high school dropout rate for Oregon Latinos in 1999-2000 was 15.6 percent, or more than double the overall rate of .3 percent, according to state Department of Education figures. Latinos are the largest, fastest-growing minority in Oregon schools, representing 10.3 percent of the student population (more than 56,000 students) last school year.
Charles Martinez, an Oregon Social Learning Center researcher and lead author of the youth survey report, said the results shouldn’t be used to scapegoat schools, parents or students. The survey “shows areas where there are impediments to success (for Latino students), and we’re all responsible for finding solutions,” he said.
The survey found that Latino students often feel less comfortable or included at school compared with other students, and that many Latino parents feel unwelcome at school or aren’t sure how to get school information. Some Latino parents are reluctant to exert influence on their children’s schoolwork.
Survey organizers said they believe that students’ participation gives added credibility to the findings. “I think youth are more truthful to other youth because it’s their peers,” said Maria Thomas, a youth advocate coordinator for Lane County and survey advisory committee member.
Several students said the project validated their own school experiences, and are hopeful that the findings will produce real change.
“I hope students like my sister will get more opportunities that we didn’t have because of all the barriers,” said Ana Flores, who attended South Eugene High School when the survey project began and now is enrolled at the University of Oregon.
Flores said she moved to Eugene from California as a high school sophomore and felt alone in a new school with relatively few Latino classmates. “I didn’t have any friends,” she said. “It was like, ‘Where are my people?’”
Ulises Neftali Rodriguez, a Churchill High graduate now attending the UO, said he felt like the only Latino youth caught in the “culture clash” between old-world parents and new-world freedoms – until survey respondents identified the same tensions.
About one-third of the local Latino students surveyed said they had been discriminated against at school because of their race.
Latino parents helped with homework as much as other parents, but found doing so more difficult, the survey found. That’s not surprising, Martinez said, “because teachers are not sending homework home in Spanish.”
Family is central to Latino culture, and Latino parents play a pivotal role in their children’s school success, he said. The survey points to a need to make Latino parents more comfortable and willing to get involved, he said.
Martinez said on of the biggest surprises was the survey’s finding that Latino students fare better in school when they adapt quickly to the cultural mainstream. That contradicts other studies that have linked quick adaptation to negative behaviors such as drug abuse or juvenile delinquency, he said.
Martinez said the reason may be rigid school systems that aren’t tailored to a diverse student population. “For kids to succeed in school, they have to kind of know the game,” he said. Those who don’t are more likely to struggle and perhaps drop out, he said.
Carmen Urbina, executive director of Centro LatinoAmericano, said the survey points to a need for more minority teachers and teachers trained in how to connect with students of different cultural backgrounds.
“This is a challenge to higher education to educate teachers in cultural competency,” she said.
Latino Youth Project Survey
Selected findings
Thirty-four percent of Latino students polled in Lane County said they have experienced racial discrimination at school; 30 percent said they feel they have been treated differently at school because of race.
Twenty-two percent of Latino students said they are somewhat or very dissatisfied with school, compared with 8 percent of non-Latino students. Sixteen percent of Latino students agreed or partially agreed that they “don’t feel that comfortable around school people,” compared with 8 percent of non-Latino students.
Fifteen percent of Latino students feel that it’s at least somewhat likely that they’ll drop out of high school, compared with 10 percent of non-Latino students. Latino parents also feel that their children are more likely to drop out.
Latino students report more barriers at school – not receiving information, lack of time because of work, prohibitive fees – than non-Latino students. Latino parents feel less welcomed at school than non-Latino parents.
Latino parents report greater difficulty helping their children with homework, even though they put in as much time as non-Latino parents. Latino students believe that they get less academic encouragement from parents than do non-Latino students.
Encouraging Latinos to take part in extracurricular activities results in more completed homework and less likelihood of dropping out.
Latino students born in the United States, who use English at home and can speak English well, are less likely to drop out.
Latino students with strong social support – able to talk to teachers, parents and friends about important issues – and who avoid gangs are less likely to drop out.
Latino parents with less money are less likely to be involved in their children’s school life.
Reprinted with permission. Copyright 2001, The Register-Guard, www.registerguard.com.