On October 19, the American Council on Education (ACE) released its biannual report card on educational attainment.
The Minorities in Higher Education 2010 report shows that while the country is making progress in some areas, much room for improvement remains.
On the positive side, between 1997 and 2007, minority enrollment on U.S. campuses grew by 52 percent to 5.4 million. The number of white students grew 12 percent to 10.8 million.
On the negative side, the achievement gap persists between white and minority students.
The report found that only 17.5 percent of Hispanics and 26 percent of blacks ages 25 to 34 hold at least a two-year degree. For whites and Asians, those numbers are 44 percent and 68 percent respectively.
Overall, college completion rates are stagnating. Today’s 25- to 34-year-olds are no more likely to hold a college degree than the previous generation of 45- to 64-year-olds.
"The overarching finding of this report is that the United States is no longer gaining ground in the educational attainment of its population from one generation to the next," said ACE president Molly Corbett Broad in a news conference.
The only student subgroups making generational progress are white and Asian-American women.
As reported in the Chronicle of Higher Education, Broad concluded that the U.S. is not on track to reach President Obama's goal of leading the world in college graduates by 2020.
Given that Hispanics represent 20 percent of Americans under the age of 35, but trail in both high school and college completion rates, ACE recommends creating more post-secondary education and training programs tailored to their needs.
"Our nation stands at the intersection of bold new goals for educational attainment on one hand and a pattern of low educational attainment for Hispanic students on the other," Broad said. "[The] costs of leaving behind generations of the fastest-growing population in this country are too great."
Photo: stevendepolo/Creative Commons via flickr.
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