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.
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