Dropout Rates High for Immigrant Latinos

WASHINGTON —  Latinos in their late teens born outside the United States are more than twice as likely to drop out of high school as those born in the U.S., according to an analysis of census data released Thursday.

Nearly 34% of Latino immigrants ages 16 to 19 did not graduate or were not enrolled in high school in 2000, the Pew Hispanic Center found. The rate was unchanged from 1990.

Among U.S.-born Latinos of the same age group, 14% were dropouts in 2000, down from 15% a decade earlier.

A lack of proficiency in English and a need for immigrants to work to send money to family members in their native countries were key reasons cited by researchers for the difference.

“When you pick apart the numbers, you see that the Hispanic dropout problem has several different components that call for different policy responses,” said the report’s author, Richard Fry.