ABSTRACT
More rapidly than any other institution, our schools are going through tremendous changes to accommodate new populations. The children and families they serve are becoming increasingly diverse in a number of dimensions. According to 2010 census data, 54 percent of U.S. children were White, non-Hispanic; 23 percent were Hispanic; 14 percent were Black; 4 percent were Asian; and 5 percent were “all other races” (Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, 2011). The percentage of children classified as Hispanic has grown from 9 percent of the child population in 1980 to 23 percent in 2010, and is projected to rise to 39 percent in 2050. Other findings from the census are:
In 2010, 20 percent of children were native-born children with at least one foreign-born parent, and 3 percent were foreign-born children with at least one foreign-born parent.
In 2010, 33 percent of foreign-born children with foreign-born parents lived below the poverty line, compared with 26 percent of native children with foreign-born parents and 18 percent of native children with native parents.
In 2009, 21 percent of school-age children spoke a language other than English at home, and 5 percent of school-age children both spoke a language other than English at home and had difficulty speaking English.
In 2009, 63 percent of school-age Asian children and 66 percent of school-age Hispanic children spoke a language other than English at home, compared with 6 percent of both non-Hispanic White and non-Hispanic Black school-age children.
About 6 percent of school-age children spoke a language other than English at home and lived in a linguistically isolated household in 2009. A linguistically isolated household is one in which all persons age 14 or over speak a language other than English at home, and no person age 14 or over speaks English “very well” (Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, 2011).
