Beyond high school: An examination of Hispanic educational attainment

Objective. Low educational attainment has been a barrier to the advancement of Hispanic Americans in the United States, and a number of explanations for this have been suggested. One group of explanations centers around Hispanic Americans' use and exposure to English. A second group of explanations focuses more on socioeconomic disadvantages facing this population. Much of the research that looks at educational attainment among Hispanic Americans, however, does not consider Hispanic group differences. Methods. This research used the National Education Longitudinal Study, a stratified probability sample of approximately 24,000 students, to examine educational attainment among the 6,294 White non-Hispanic, and 492 Mexican, Cuban, and Puerto Rican youth included in all four waves of the survey. Results. The results suggest the importance of both the diversity of the Hispanic population and socioeconomic factors in explaining participation in postsecondary education. Conclusions. Effective policies targeted toward Hispanic educational attainment need to address economic circumstances of these students rather than focus primarily on language deficiencies or immigration status.