Hispanic high school dropout rate nearly doubles

Poor English skills, family responsibilities can make it tough for students to stay in school

Thursday, Feb. 23, 2006

More than seven percent of Hispanic high school students in Prince George’s County public schools dropped out in 2004-05, logging the highest dropout rate for any ethnic group and nearly doubling the dropout rate for the previous year.

By comparison, 3.9 percent of white high school students dropped out, up from the previous year’s 3.57 percent rate. African-Americans had a 3.16 percent dropout rate, an increase over the 2.76 percent rate in 2003-04.

In all, 323 Hispanics dropped out of a total population of 4,451 students, while 1,154 blacks dropped out of a student population of 36,518.

For white’s, of 3,873 high school students, 151 dropped out. Only 31 out of 1,493 Asians left high school and nine American Indians out of 233 dropped out.

The data comes from the State Department of Education’s mdreportcard.org Web site, which compiles information from county figures.

The information shows that Hispanic students have had the highest dropout rates in the county since at least 1993.

Bill Hannah, a community activist with Action Langley Park, a community advocacy group, said poor English language skills may cause many Hispanic students to drop out early in their high school careers.

‘‘Most of these kids drop out between years,” Hannah told The Gazette. ‘‘They go in the ninth grade, and they don’t speak very good English, and at the end of the year, they just walk away.”

William Ritter, regional assistant superintendent for Region 5 schools, which many Hispanic students attend, agreed that language skills can be a major problem.

Ritter said many Hispanic students, most of them recent immigrants, have little to no command of English, which makes it virtually impossible to function at a high school level, particularly with state-mandated assessments determining whether students graduate.

‘‘Many of these students come from where their education has been interrupted; some have never been to school more than a few years,” Ritter told The Gazette. ‘‘They’re already significantly behind.”

Economic necessity and family responsibilities are also factors in explaining the disproportionately high Hispanic dropout rate, Ritter said.

‘‘I had a student at Northwestern High School who would always come in late,” Ritter said. ‘‘After I investigated, I found out he was working as a baker’s assistant. He wasn’t getting home until 4 a.m.”

‘‘It’s tragic,” said Hannah, who also is a professor of Urban Studies and Planning at the University of Maryland, College Park. He pointed out that a lack of a high school education can doom a student to low-income jobs.

The school system says that since December, 598 new ESOL students (English for Speakers of Other Languages) have enrolled in the system and 74 percent of them are Hispanic.

El Salvador, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and The Dominican Republic are the countries from which most Hispanic immigrants come, according to the ESOL office.

Silvia Hoke, a counselor for the system’s International Student Guidance Office, said that a variety of programs are available to help immigrants improve their skills. Some help fill the gaps in their education, while others teach English while the students earn high school credits.

‘‘Teachers in ESOL teach a course, like biology or social studies... so that they are getting what’s required for graduation but also learning English at the same time,” Hoke said.

Peter Shapiro, a former county council member for District 2, which has many Hispanic residents, said that with immigrants, the need for survival often trumps the desire to attend school.

‘‘When immigrants come to this country and you have to work just to survive, then you often make compromises, and one of those compromises is education.”

E-mail Guy Leonard at gleonard@gazette.net.