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- All Subjects: Census, 2010
- All Subjects: Hispanic American students
- Creators: Rex, Tom R.
The primary purpose of this paper is to examine the educational achievement and attainment of Latinos living in Arizona. In short, the educational performance and attainment of Hispanics lags considerably behind that of the state’s non-Hispanic white residents. Moreover, the growth in the number of Hispanics, especially children, has far outpaced that of the non-Hispanic white population, raising the importance of this educational gap. This issue was highlighted in the 2001 Morrison Institute report Five Shoes Waiting to Drop on Arizona’s Future.
The specific goal of this report is to assess the future of Hispanic educational performance and attainment in Arizona, but this outlook is dependent to a very sizable extent on the characteristics of the Hispanics living in Arizona. In particular, the educational achievement and attainment of Hispanic immigrants has been substantially less than that of Hispanics born in the United States. Forecasting Hispanic immigration specifically and the characteristics of the Hispanic population generally is extremely difficult for two reasons: severe data limitations, and recent legal and policy changes related to immigration.
The decennial census count for Arizona of 6,392,017 on April 1, 2010 is considerably less than the latest population estimates, which are for July 1, 2009. In this edition of Indicator Insight, author Tom Rex examines the possible reasons for the large census count discrepancy and its implications for Arizona.
This follow-up to the 2001 landmark report, "Five Shoes Waiting to Drop on Arizona's Future," focuses on the projected future of the state if Arizona fails to address its Latino educational attainment gap. The publication is more of an economic impact statement than an education report, with indicators pointing out consequences and contributions, depending on action or inaction in closing the gap of Arizona's future workforce.
Arizona's diverse population is always changing. Understanding the state's shifting demographics matters for good planning and effective policy making. This issue of Indicator Insight explores some of the major categories of demographic data available from the decennial census, the American Community Survey and other key sources.