Echarte said research shows the high-school dropout rate among Hispanics is more than twice that of African American students and more than three times greater than for non-Hispanic White students. One solution would be to create a more bilingual and culturally relevant education system for Hispanics with more Hispanic teachers who can be role models for students, Echarte said.

On health care, the document found that about six of 10 Hispanic families in the U.S. do not have health insurance.

Researchers also found that although Hispanics make up about 15 percent of the U.S. population, about 9 percent of eligible Hispanic voters are registered to vote and only 6.5 percent do vote. Echarte said Azteca is trying to increase political awareness among Hispanic Americans, who often do not seek U.S. citizenship after obtaining permanent residency status and doubt that their votes as citizens would count anyway. He said others may be unaware that they do not have to rescind citizenship from their native country if they became naturalized in the U.S.

"Latinos have so much to offer and so much potential, but they keep facing these consistent barriers," said Maria del Carmen Salazar, one of the study’s authors, who is an assistant professor at the University of Denver Morgridge College of Education.

Salazar and faculty at DU's Center for Community Engagement and Scholarship used information from the U.S. Census and national research documents by the Pew Hispanic Center and other institutions to compile the report. Research topics were selected by the Congressional Hispanic Leadership Institute, the National Council of La Raza, the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials and other groups.

For more information, log on to http://www.fundacionaztecaamerica.org/  or http://www.du.edu/