This report is the ACT annual report on the progress of U.S. high school graduates relative to college readiness. This year's report shows that 64% of students in the 2016 US graduating class took the ACT test, up from 59% in 2015 and 49% in 2011. The increased number of test takers over the past several years enhances the breadth and depth of the…

This study examined the differences in perceptions of barriers in education among Latinos in the United States based on the level of linguistic acculturation, generational status, academic achievement, and socioeconomic status of the participants. This study used data from the Pew Hispanic Research Center. Results indicated that later-generation…

The national Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) monitors priority health risk behaviors that contribute to the leading causes of death, disability, and social problems among youth and adults in the United States. The national YRBS is conducted every two years during the spring semester and provides data representative of 9th through 12th grade…

More than 20% of U.S. children entering kindergarten today are of Latino heritage. And Latino children--growing-up in highly diverse communities--enter school with weaker math and English preliteracy skills than their non-Latino peers. The growing percentage of Spanish-speaking children in today's classrooms raises questions for educators,…

In this article, Fairbanks, Crooks, and Ariail followed Esme Martinez, a Spanish-speaking Latina, from the sixth grade to the eleventh grade, focusing on her perspectives of schooling and her shifting identities related to home, school, friendships, and future. Drawing on the construct of artifacts, a sociohistorical concept that understands…

The Future Scientists Program of Texas A&M University and the Agricultural Research Service branch of USDA serves as a model program of effective collaboration between a federal agency and K-12. It demonstrates true partnership that contextualizes learning of science and provides quality professional development, benefiting teachers and their…

The current migration of Latino/as into the United States has many schools struggling to meet the unique academic needs of this particular group of students. Previous research suggests level of acculturation and perceived social support impact mathematics achievement amongst Latino/a students. The current study employed hierarchical and…

The United States Department of Education (2008) noted that the percentage of ethnic minority students in public education increased from 22 percent in 1972 to 43 percent in 2006. This increase largely reflected the growth of the Hispanic population, especially in the state of Texas. Richard (2003) reported that Hispanic students drop out of…

President Barack Obama has called for the United States to reclaim its position as the nation with the highest concentration of adults with postsecondary degrees in the world. Given the changing demographics of the United States, this target cannot be achieved without increasing the rate at which Hispanic students obtain a college degree. In this…

The nation's goal of achieving educational equity has been both elusive and complex. U.S. schools are becoming more, not less, segregated, and the racial isolation of Black and Latino students from White students is a national trend. For two decades, the Rockville Centre School District in New York has engaged in reforms that were designed to…

The number of English language learners (ELL) across public schools in the United States continues to rise (Brice & Roseberry-McKibbin, 2006). However, teacher preparation for these students is not growing (McKeon, 2005). This quantitative study explored the relationship between teacher professional development and literacy achievement of…

The purpose of this study was to analyze the effects of the most widely used literacy instructional approaches on the reading comprehension of Grade 2-6 students. Participants (N = 660) were enrolled in 4 districts in the United States; 53% were male (n = 348) and 47% were female (n = 312); 51% were Caucasian (n = 338), 23% were African American…

In 2009, Excelencia in Education launched the Ensuring America's Future initiative to inform, organize, and engage leaders in a tactical plan to increase Latino college completion. An executive summary of Latino College Completion in 50 states synthesizes information on 50 state factsheets and builds on the national benchmarking guide. Each…

The Monitoring the Future (MTF) project reports annually on levels and trends in self-reported substance use by secondary school students (e.g., Johnston, O'Malley, Bachman, & Schulenberg, 2009). The reports include subgroup comparisons, and these have revealed substantial differences among race/ethnicity groups, as well as some differences…

This report provides a detailed portrait of Hispanic and White academic achievement gaps and how students' performance has changed over time at both the national and state levels. The report presents achievement gaps using reading and mathematics assessment data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) for the 4th- and 8th-grade…