Report: Making Education Work for Latinas in the US

Patricia Gándara and colleagues at the UCLA Proyecto Derechos Civiles have recently released a new report on how educational opportunities can be better structured to support the achievement of Latinas in US schools. This report was commissioned by the actor Eva Longoria's foundation, and focused on specific policy levers that can serve to alter trajectories and outcomes among Latina students in the US. The main findings were:

• Having more Latina/o teachers leads to significantly higher rates of college going for Latinas.
• Maintaining bilingual skills is associated with a higher rate of college going.
• Feeling confident about math and doing well in it leads to higher rates of high school completion and college going.
• Being involved in extracurricular activities in school is associated with successful high school graduation and college going, and in turn appears to be related to developing a sense of belonging in school.
• Having a strong personal belief about completing high school and going to college predicts actually doing so.
• Peers with knowledge and aspirations to go to college is associated with college-going

Associated actionable policy initiatives are also provided. The overview can be found here, and also a link to the full report, whose methods are very detailed and interesting.