As we begin a new school year, we take a look at the road that Hispanic/Latino students have travelled in the U.S. education system over the past twenty years. Despite the setbacks caused by the last two pandemic years, many inspiring longer-term gains have been made. Since 2010, the Hispanic/Latino community has not only increased its numerical presence in schools and colleges and become much more visible vis-à-vis other ethnic groups - it has also reached higher levels of educational attainment within the community, as measured by indicators such as a higher proportion of adults holding high school diplomas and university degrees.

Public K-12 Education

The number of Hispanics/Latinos in public K-12 education overall has grown from 7.7 million in 2000 to 13.8 million in 2020; while in 2000 they represented only 16.4% of total public K-12 enrollment, in 2020 they represented 28.1%. It is projected that by 2030, Hispanics/Latinos will constitute 29.7% of total public K-12 enrollment nationally.¹

Although Hispanics/Latinos have the largest presence in the South, where they are now the largest ethnic group in public K-12 enrollment (43.4% of total enrollment in 2020), their growth has been especially pronounced in the Midwest, where Hispanics/Latinos as a proportion of total public K-12 enrollment has more than doubled, jumping from 5.7% in 2000 to 13.5% in 2020.²

Gains in Higher Education

The percentage of Hispanic/Latino 18- to 24-year-olds enrolled in a 2 or 4 year college has increased substantially over the past twenty years, at a faster and more constant rate than any other ethnic group. Nonetheless, there is still a lot of ground to cover, as only slightly over one-third (35.8%) of Hispanics/Latinos in this age group are enrolled in college (and there was a dip in enrollment over the past two years, due to the pandemic).³

Since 2000, the number of degrees conferred to Hispanic/Latino students has doubled every ten years, for each level of higher education (associate’s, bachelor’s, and master’s) except for the doctorate level, where there has been slower growth. In 2020, 25.6% of all Associate degrees were conferred to Hispanic/Latino students, compared to only 10.6% in 2000; likewise, the percentage of bachelor’s degrees conferred to Hispanic/Latino students increased from only 6.5% of the total in 2000 to 15.7% in 2020.⁴

A Community with Higher Levels of Schooling

As a result of the increasing number and proportion of Hispanics/Latinos in public K-12 schools and attending college, the overall education level of the community has improved notably over the past 20 years. The percentage of Hispanic/Latino adults between the ages of 25 and 29 who have completed high school or a higher level of studies increased from 62.8% in 2000 to 89.9% in 2020, a considerable leap in educational attainment. Hispanics/Latinos who hold at least a bachelor’s degree have also increased notably, from only 9.7% of this same age group in 2000 to nearly a quarter (24.9%) in 2020.5

There is much to be done for the Hispanic/Latino community to attain higher levels of schooling – it still lags behind most other ethnic groups in this regard (with the exception of Pacific Islanders and American Indian/Alaskan Natives, who have lower proportions of bachelor’s completion and above). Nonetheless, it is important to highlight the rapid progress that has been made over the past two decades, which will surely provide momentum for further gains in the future. 

References

1. Table 203.60., in Digest of Education Statistics, NCES, 2022, at: https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d22/tables/dt22_203.60.asp?current=yes

2. Table 203.50. in Digest of Education Statistics, NCES, 2022, at: https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d22/tables/dt22_203.50.asp

3. Table 302.60, in Digest of Education Statistics, NCES, 2022

4. Table 321.20, Table 322.20, Table 323.20, and Table 324.20, in Digest of Education Statistics, 2022.

5.  Table 104.20, in Digest of Education Statistics, NCES, 2022.