“An important part of this is to get more Latinos to graduate from high school,” Lazarin said of the Latino dropout rate, which statistics show is more than twice the national average at 21 percent. “If we get those numbers up in high school, that in and of itself will help produce more college-going students.”
Among other things, Lazarin said, Latino youths are often faced with choosing between pursuing educational goals and working help bring in more income for their families.
“Young Latinos are a big part of our work force,” Lazarin said. “There is a pressure economically, a need even to help bring food to the table for the family.”
One way to deal with it, she said, is to reconceptualize high school and make it more flexible for Latino and other students from nontraditional backgrounds.
“We have to think about ways to design our school system to meet the needs of today’s students,” she said.
