ABSTRACT
Interest in high school dropouts among policymakers, educational practitioners, and researchers is as great today as 10 plus years ago when the original version of this chapter on Chicano dropouts was first presented (Rumberger, 1991). Attention has also continued to be focused on the Latino population, given that the proportion of Latino dropouts remains significantly higher than any other major racial/ethnic group (see Figure 4.1). In 1999, the dropout rate for White, non-Latinos was 7.3 percent, compared to 12.6 percent for Black, non-Latinos and 28.6 percent for Latinos (U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2001, Table 106). Another reason for the attention on Latinos is that this population is expected to grow faster than any other major racial/ethnic group (see Valencia, Chapter 2, present volume). For example, according to U.S. Census (1997) projections, between 2000 and 2025, the number of White youth (1824) is expected to decline by 4 percent, while the number of Latino youth will increase by 78 percent. Thus, based on current dropout rates, the total number of young dropouts could actually increase over the next 25 years. Moreover, the number of high school age Latinos (14-17 years) is also projected to increase by 81 percent in the same time period, which could further contribute to an increase in the number of Latino dropouts in the near future.
