Professor assists national effort to curb Hispanic dropout rate

National attention is often the prelude to a national solution, and the high dropout rate among Hispanic students got a lot of attention at a recent Washington press conference.

Standing on the podium with Vice President Al Gore and Secretary of Education Richard Riley was Walter Secada of the UW–Madison School of Education faculty. Secada is the senior author of a report on the Hispanic dropout rate released by Gore and Riley called “No More Excuses.”

In 1994 the overall dropout rate for Hispanics was more than double the rate for African-Americans and nearly quadruple that of non-Hispanic whites, the study found. Nearly one in five U.S. Hispanics between 16 and 24 who ever enrolled in a U.S. school left without either a high school diploma or an alternative certificate, such as a GED.

Hispanics now make up 13.5 percent of the nation’s school-age children and will likely become the largest ethnic minority in the United States by 2050.

“The problem of the Hispanic dropout rate can be solved,” said Secada, “But first you must say it’s a problem, and Vice President Gore and Secretary Riley did that at the press conference.”

The Clinton administration wants to couple money with their concern about Hispanic dropouts. Officials have unveiled a Hispanic education plan that includes $66 million to train 20,000 teachers over five years to more effectively work with children with limited English skills. It also proposes spending $30 million to help schools with high dropout rates.

Secada led a panel of experts in producing “No More Excuses” at the request of U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM). The report did point out problems in the schools but also looked at what others can do to help schools. For example, it asks the business community to support schools and parents as part of their missions and urges parents to become actively involved in their children’s education.

“The goal of our report was simply to give salience to an issue that’s been invisible in the past,” said Secada.

Secada is a professor of curriculum and instruction and director of a multicultural education project within the Wisconsin Center for Education Research.