Demographic Trends and Academic Achievement Patterns of Young Hispanic Children in the United States

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Demographic Trends and Academic Achievement
Patterns of Young Hispanic Children in the United
States
Eugene E. García Arizona State University
AERA 2007 Chicago, IL
National Task Force on Early Childhood Education
for Hispanics

La Comisión Nacional para la Educación de la
Niñez Hispana
www.ecehispanic.org
Funded initially by a grant from Foundation for
Child Development and subsequent grants from A.L.
Mailman Foundation, Marguerite Casey Foundation,
Peppercorn Foundation and Winthrop Rockefeller
Foundation.
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Demographics of Young Hispanics

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A Growing Population

• Between the 1960s and 2005, the Latino
  population in the United States grew 400
• Hispanic children under age 5 amounted to 4.2
  million or 21 percent of the total US population
  under 5 years old. (18, ages 4-19)

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A Growing Population

Source Hernández (2006). Based on U.S. Census
Bureau population projections for 2000-2050,
released by the U.S. Census Bureau on March 18,
2004.
www.ecehispanic.org
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A Young Population

• In 2003, 22 of U.S. babies born were Hispanic
• A total of 912,329 Hispanic babies were born up
  from 593,073 in 1990a 53 increase

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A Concentrated Yet Dispersed Population

• In 2000, 79 of Hispanic children (ages 0-8)
  lived in nine states (i.e., CA, TX, NY, FL, IL,
  AZ, NJ, CO, NM). - Although Hispanic families
  in the U.S. have traditionally been concentrated,
  during the late 1990s many spread across Rocky
  Mountain, Midwest, and Southeastern states. -
  Arkansas and North Carolina experienced the
  largest proportional proliferation of Hispanic
  families, 394 and 337 respectively.- 25 states
  (other than the big nine) have child populations
  (ages 0-8) with 10 or more Hispanics

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An Immigrant Population

• 1 in 5 school-aged children (5-19 years old) in
  the U.S. is from an immigrant family in which at
  least one parent is foreign-born.
• Since 1980, at least 75 of the Hispanic
  population growth in the mainland U.S. has been
  due to immigration.
• In 2000, 62 of children in immigrant families
  were of Latin American heritage. However, 93 of
  immigrant children under the age of six were
  U.S. citizens.

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An Immigrant Population

Source Hernández (2006). a For second
generation children, one or both parents may be
immigrants. b For third generation children,
children have two U.S-born parents, and possibly
U.S.-born grandparents, great grandparents, and
so forth.
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Immigrant Circumstances

• Resilience
• Compared to U.S.-born Hispanic families,
  immigrant Hispanic families have lower infant
  mortality rates, and have fewer health problems
• Hispanic immigrant families, on average, have a
  strong work ethic and aspirations are likely to
  have two-parent households and close familial
  bonds and relationships.
• Disadvantage
• Children in Hispanic immigrant families have
  parents with less formal education, have less
  access to public programs (e.g., welfare), and
  are more likely to live in poverty and crowded
  housing, be behind a grade in school, and
  experience home-school language/culture
  disparities.

www.ecehispanic.org
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Percent and Number of Hispanic Children Ages 0-8
in the United States in 2000, by
National/Regional Heritage






Diverse National Origins,with a Mexican-American
majority
Percent and Number of Hispanic Children Ages 0-8
in the United States in 2000, by
National/Regional Heritage

Source Analysis of 2000 U.S. Census data by D.
Hernandez for National Task Force on Early
Childhood Education for Hispanics.
www.ecehispanic.org
Source Analysis of 2000 U.S. Census data by D.
Hernandez for National Task Force on Early
Childhood Education for Hispanics.
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Percent and Number of Hispanic Children Ages 0-8
in the United States in 2000, by
National/Regional Heritage






Diverse National Origins
Percentages of Children with No Parent with High
School Degree and with at Least One Parent with a
Bachelors Degree or More

Source Galindo, C., and Reardon, S.F. (2006).
Hispanic Students Educational Experiences and
Opportunities during Kindergarten. Report to the
National Task Force on Early Childhood Education
for Hispanics. Tempe, AZ Arizona State
University.
www.ecehispanic.org
Source Analysis of 2000 U.S. Census data by D.
Hernandez for National Task Force on Early
Childhood Education for Hispanics.
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Educational Performance of Young Hispanics

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Historic Achievement Differences

• Consistent with the effects of parent education,
  family income, single parent family, and home
  language on academic achievement Hispanic
  students have had much lower levels of academic
  achievement compared with the achievement levels
  of non-Hispanic Whites and Asian Americans at
  least since national achievement data first
  became available by race/ethnicity in the
  mid-1960s

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Selected ECLS-K Math and Reading Data
Kindergarten, 3rd Grade, and 5th Grade







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Math Proficiency Levels
Level 1 Number and shape Level 2 Relative
size Level 3 Ordinality and sequence Level 4
Addition and subtraction Level 5 Multiplication
and division Level 6 Place value Level 7 Rate
and measurement Level 8 Fractions Level 9
Area and volume

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Scoring at Levels 1, 2, 3, 4 in Math at
Start of Kindergarten

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Scoring at Levels 1, 2, 3, 4 in Math at Start
Kindergarten by Mexican Generation

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Scoring at Levels 4, 5, 6, 7 in Math at End
of Third Grade

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Scoring at Levels 4, 5, 6, 7 in Math at End
of Third Grade by Mexican Generation

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Scoring at Levels 6, 7, 8 9 in Math at End of
Fifth Grade

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Scoring at Levels 6, 7, 8, 9 in Math at End
of Fifth Grade by Mexican Generation

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Reading Proficiency Levels
Level 1 Letter recognition Level 2 Beginning
sounds Level 3 Ending sounds Level 4 Sight
words Level 5 Comprehension of words in
context Level 6 Literal inference Level 7
Extrapolation Level 8 Evaluation Level 9
Evaluating nonfiction

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Scoring at Levels 1, 2, 3, 4 in Reading at
Start of Kindergarten

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Scoring at Levels 1, 2, 3 4 in Reading at
Start of Third Grade by Mexican Generation

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Scoring at Levels 5, 6, 7 8 in Reading at End
of Third Grade







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Scoring at Levels 5, 6, 7 8 in Reading at End
of Third Grade by Mexican Generation

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Scoring at Levels 6, 7, 8 9 in Reading at End
of Fifth Grade







www.ecehispanic.org
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Scoring at Levels 6, 7, 8 9 in Reading at End
of Fifth Grade by Mexican Generation

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Scoring at or above Levels 6, 7, 8 and 9 in
Reading at the End of Fifth Grade

Source Reardon, S.F., and Galindo, C. (2006).
www.ecehispanic.org
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Longitudinal ECLS-K Data by SES and Racial/Ethnic
Group

www.ecehispanic.org
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www.ecehispanic.org
Source Reardon and Galindo (2006)
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www.ecehispanic.org
Source Reardon and Galindo (2006)
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www.ecehispanic.org
Source Reardon and Galindo (2006)
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www.ecehispanic.org
Source Reardon and Galindo (2006)
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Hispanic K-5 Achievement Trajectories

• SUMMARY
• - Throughout K-5 there are sustained achievement
  differences between Hispanic subgroups by country
  of origin.
• Children of Cuban origin, followed by those from
  South American origin, fare the best in reading
  and mathematics (K-5) with scores resembling
  Whites.

www.ecehispanic.org
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Hispanic K-5 Achievement Trajectories

• SUMMARY
• - Children from Mexican and Central American
  origins score lowest in reading and in
  mathematics at the start of kindergarten and
  throughout 5th grade.
• There is evidence of intergenerational progress.
• Racial/ethnic achievement differences within SES
  groups exist from kindergarten through 5th grade.
• Low SES Hispanic youngsters without English
  proficiency (about 1/3 of all Hispanic
  youngsters) demonstrate particularly low scores

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Effects of Tulsa Pre-K Program by Race/Ethnicity
of Student

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Source Gormley, Gayer, Phillips and Dawson
(2005)