Raising Latino Achievement Seen as 'Demographic Imperative' If
the Unites States is going to thrive and be a world leader in
education, it must boost the educational attainment of its
fastest-growing population By 2020, one in four children
enrolled in America's K-12 public schools will be Latino. Of
those Latino students, more than half will be second-generation
Americans, born in the United States to at least one parent who
is an immigrant. Another third will be at least third-generation
Americans, the children of parents who were also born in this
country, according to projections from the Pew Hispanic Center,
a Washington-based research organization. The remainder will be
immigrants themselves, though they will be part of a diminishing
stream of young Latinos moving to the United States from
Spanish-speaking countries. With such strong and growing
numbers, the educational achievement of this diverse community
of students—who increasingly live in states and communities
where Latinos were virtually nonexist