The Hispanic Diaspora and the Public Schools: Educating Hispanics

Abstract

Reflecting the geographic concentration of the Hispanic population in the Southwest, as recently as 1990 the bulk of Hispanic children were educated in public schools in 48 metropolitan areas. Schools in the Los Angeles and New York metropolitan areas alone educated more than one quarter of Hispanic students in the early 1990s. The Hispanic diaspora, however, has resulted in very large Hispanic public school enrollment growth in 30 “new settlement” metropolitan areas (such as Atlanta and Charlotte). The percentage of the nation’s Latino public school students that are educated in the schools of the new settlement areas has nearly doubled since 1993. The quality of public schools varies across states and metropolitan areas. On average, the public schools educating Hispanics in the 30 new settlement areas have different characteristics than the schools in the 48 traditional Hispanic metro areas. Examination of the rudimentary characteristics of the public schools educating Latinos in the new settlement areas suggests that the diaspora has not necessarily diminished the educational context of Hispanic youth. The new settlement public schools are more suburban. They tend to be smaller, are less likely to be high poverty schools (as measured by Title I status), and have smaller pupil-to-teacher ratios. At the school level, Hispanic students in the new settlement schools have more exposure to white students than their peers educated in schools in the traditional Hispanic metros. The impact of the Hispanic enrollment boom in the 30 new settlement metros was concentrated in about one-out-of-eight public schools. Compared to other public schools in the new settlement metros, the high Hispanic growth schools experienced abrupt changes since 1993. The highly impacted schools went from being majority white schools to majority minority schools by 2004. Unlike other schools, they grew substantially in size in spite of white student enrollment declines. These changes are noteworthy because although only about one-in-eight schools was affected, these schools educate 40% of Latinos in the new settlement areas.