Surprising Success Among Hispanic students in North Carolina

“In the red-hot debate on immigration policy in the United States, some pundits point to the poor academic performance of Hispanic students as evidence that the melting pot isn’t working the way it used to. Reports based on national tests show that Hispanic students score far below non-Hispanic whites and that this achievement gap is just as large in middle school as in elementary school.

But new research we have done using data from North Carolina reveals that these reports tell only half of the story. In fact, the school careers of Hispanic students tend to be marked by steady progress, not stagnation. Instead of wringing our hands over the academic failures of Hispanic students, we should be trying to learn more about why they, and their schools, have achieved the success they have.”

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