Graduation rate lowest for Hispanic male students

Only half of Hispanic males graduate from high school. This must be corrected, these boys will never be successful in their careers and the cycle will continue. The biggest thing they need, other than English, is probably parents and counselors who give them a push. DP

Declines as other groups make strides

By James Vaznis, Globe Staff

MALDEN - Little more than half of the Hispanic male students last year graduated from high school within four years, a slight decline from the previous year, even as other demographic groups began closing an achievement gap, according to a state report released yesterday.

The poor performance of this ever-growing segment of the high school population is raising questions about the quality of programs that teach immigrant students how to speak English and concern among some advocates for Hispanic students that state and local school leaders may be too apathetic.

State leaders say they are committed to addressing the problem, noting, for instance, that they are working in partnership with Boston, Chelsea, Springfield, and Worcester on a new teacher and leadership training program to help these students.

"We need to be doing better," Mitchell Chester, state commissioner of elementary and secondary education, said in an interview.

Hispanic males have had the lowest rate of any student group broken down by race, ethnicity, and gender since the state began tracking graduation rates three years ago. According to data released yesterday by the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, 52.6 percent of the 5,112 Hispanic male students who started as freshmen in fall 2004 graduated four years later, compared with a state average of 81.2 percent.

Low graduation rates among Hispanic males has become a growing issue in recent years across the nation. Two years ago, a report, led by the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University and the Urban Institute in New York, called trailing graduation rates a "Civil rights crisis."
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