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Latino Students In Rhode Island Are Grade Levels Behind Peers

What's Going On With Latino Students In Rhode Island?
By 

Editor, Latino Voices

PROVIDENCE, RI - AUGUST 28: Teaching assistant Marc Peña says hello to a student on the first day of school at Leviton Dual Language Elementary School, on August 28, 2013 in Providence, Rhode Island. The school teaches classes in English and Spanish. Schools across the country will begin classes this week or next. (Photo by Melanie Stetson Freeman/The Christian Science Monitor via Getty Images)
PROVIDENCE, RI - AUGUST 28: Teaching assistant Marc Peña says hello to a student on the first day of school at Leviton Dual Language Elementary School, on August 28, 2013 in Providence, Rhode Island. The school teaches classes in English and Spanish. Schools across the country will begin classes this week or next. (Photo by Melanie Stetson Freeman/The Christian Science Monitor via Getty Images)

A new report is showing that the Rhode Island school system is failing to meet the needs of the state’s growing Latino population.

According to a study released on Tuesday, Rhode Island has some of the worst achievement gaps between Latino and white students. Latino students are grade levels behind their white peers. Hispanics scored two to three levels behind their white peers in math and one or two levels behind in reading on National Assessment of Educational Progress tests.

The report, released by the Latino Policy Institute at Roger Williams University, also found that there was a crisis in the English Language Learner (ELL) program. Hispanics make up 75 percent of English Language Learners in the state, but ELL programs in Rhode Island are among the lowest performing in the nation. According to the report, sixty three percent of students in Providence and 72 percent of students in Central Falls are Latino.

Read more on NBC Latino

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