Hispanic students are at a disadvantage in most of America's public schools for many reasons which are economic, cultural and language related. Latin Americans are currently the fastest growing ethnic group in the United States. As a group, Hispanics are the most undereducated segment of the U.S. population (Lara-Alecio, Irby, & Ebener, 1997, p. 27). The United States does not need to develop a secondary class of Hispanic people who are illiterate, unable to speak English, and unable to function as full members of society. The lack of an appropriate education for Hispanic students will foster the development of such a group of people. The education establishment needs to understand the richness of the Hispanic culture and the way this culture influences the behavior and learning style of Hispanic students. Strategies to encourage and raise the academic achievement of Hispanics in the school system need to be developed and implemented.
Hispanic students are making up an ever larger proportion of the school-aged population throughout the United States. In 1994, the more than 26 million Hispanics represented 10 percent of the population (U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census 1995, 19). The population of Hispanics is expected to increase by 28 percent by the year 2000 (Barry, 1998. p. 630). The demographic projections for Texas indicate that there will be an 87.5 percent growth rate in minority populations between 1990 and 2030. Hispanics will account for approximately 46 percent of all households in Texas by 2030 (Lara-Alecio, Irby, & Ebener, 1997, p. 27). Hispanic and other minority households have traditionally experienced a more limited access to socioeconomic resources than have the dominant households of the Anglo culture. Forty-seven percent of Texas households had incomes below 25 thousand dollars in 1990. That number is expected to increase to include more than half of all Texas households (almost 54 ...