Achievement Gaps in Early Education

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Achievement Gaps in Early Education Eugene E
Garcia, Ph.D.
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Sabías Que(Did you know)

• Nickelodeons bilingual Dora the Explorer is the
  No. 2 pre-school show on commercial TV.

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Sabías Que

• According to Hallmark Cards, piñatas are now the
  2nd most popular party favorballoons 1.

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Hispanics

• From the General to the Specifics

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A Growing Population

• Between the 1960s and 2005, the Latino
  population in the United States grew 400
• Hispanic children under age 5 amounted to 4.2
  million or 21 percent of the total US population
  under 5 years old. (18, ages 4-19)

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• Specific (country of origin, generation status,
  English language proficiency, etc.) demographic
  trends of the Hispanic child population.

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Demographics Our Youngest

• New Born
• 24 of US babies born in 2005 were Hispanic
• This totals 1,112,329 up from 593,073 in 1990
• a 57 increase
• Hispanic new borns are highly concentrated yet
  dispersed
• 50 born in two states (CA and TX)
• 75 born in eight states
• Yet, in 25 states, 10 born to Hispanic mothers
• 46 born to single mothers (18.4 in 1980)
• 47 born to mothers with less than a high school
  education (54 in 1980)
• 63 born to mothers born outside the US (32 in
  1980)
• 73 Mexican origin (66 in 1980)

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Demographics Distribution

• AGES 0-8 YEARS OLD
• 1 out of 5 children in the US is Hispanic
• Hispanics are diverse in their national origin
• 68 Mexican origin
• 8.5 Puerto Rican origin
• 7.0 Central American origin
• 5.7 South American origin
• 2.7 Dominican origin
• 2.5 Cuban origin
• 5.6 Other

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Demographics Distribution

• AGES 0-8 YEARS OLD
• Dispersed and Highly Concentrated
• 79 of Hispanic children live in nine states
• 25 other states contain 10 or more
• 62.3 live in immigrant Hispanic families 90
  are US born
• 10 living in immigrant households are themselves
  foreign born i.e., 1st generation

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Demographics Language

• Home language at 9-months
• 34 primarily Spanish with English
• 22 primarily English with Spanish
• 19 Spanish only
• 21 English only 4 other
• 75 are influenced by Spanish

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• Specific academic achievement trajectories of
  Hispanic children from kindergarten through third
  grade by SES, English language proficiency,
  national origin, and generational status.

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Selected ECLS-K Math and Reading Data for
Kindergarten and the Third Grade
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Math Proficiency Levels

• Level 1 Number and shape
• Level 2 Relative size
• Level 3 Ordinality and sequence
• Level 4 Addition and subtraction
• Level 5 Multipication and division
• Level 6 Place value
• Level 7 Rate and measurement

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Scoring at Levels 1, 2, 3, 4 in Math at Start
of Kindergarten
Group Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4
Whites-3rd Gen. 96 65 27 5
All Hisp. 84 37 9 1
Mexican 82 33 8 1
Cuban 92 53 18 4
Puerto R. 85 42 11 2
C. Amer. 80 32 6 0
S. Amer. 91 48 17 3
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Scoring at Levels 1, 2, 3, 4 in Math at Start
Kindergarten by Mexican Generation
Group Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4
Whites-3rd Gen. 96 65 27 5
Mexican-1st Gen. 78 27 4 0
Mexican-2nd Gen. 78 27 5 1
Mexican-3rd Gen. 90 46 14 2
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Scoring at Levels 4, 5, 6, 7 in Math at End
of Third Grade
Group Level 4 Level 5 Level 6 Level 7
Whites-3rd Gen. 98 84 49 19
All Hisp. 95 67 28 9
Mexican 95 66 25 7
Cuban 99 85 53 22
Puerto R. 94 68 33 10
C. Amer. 96 70 26 8
S. Amer. 97 77 41 19
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Scoring at Levels 4, 5, 6, 7 in Math at End
of Third Grade by Mexican Generation
Group Level 4 Level 5 Level 6 Level 7
Whites-3rd Gen. 98 84 49 19
Mexican-1st Gen. 94 59 20 8
Mexican-2nd Gen. 94 63 21 5
Mexican-3rd Gen. 97 75 35 10
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Reading Proficiency Levels

• Level 1 Letter recognition
• Level 2 Beginning sounds
• Level 3 Ending sounds
• Level 4 Sight words
• Level 5 Comprehension of words in context
• Level 6 Literal inference
• Level 7 Extrapolation
• Level 8 Evaluation

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Scoring at Levels 1, 2, 3, 4 in Reading at
Start of Kindergarten
Group Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4
Whites-3rd Gen. 76 35 20 3
All Hisp. 55 21 11 2
Mexican 53 20 10 2
Cuban 73 31 17 3
Puerto R. 53 18 9 1
C. Amer. 56 18 9 1
S. Amer. 68 29 16 4
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Scoring at Levels 1, 2, 3 4 in Reading at
Start of Third Grade by Mexican Generation
Group Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4
Whites-3rd Gen. 76 35 20 3
Mexican-1st Gen. 46 22 12 3
Mexican-2nd Gen. 44 14 7 1
Mexican-3rd Gen. 61 25 14 2
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Scoring at Levels 5, 6, 7 8 in Reading at End
of Third Grade
Group Level 5 Level 6 Level 7 Level 8
Whites-3rd Gen. 96 83 53 33
All Hisp. 89 63 30 18
Mexican 88 59 25 15
Cuban 97 87 52 31
Puerto R. 89 63 32 21
C. Amer. 91 68 31 18
S. Amer. 96 79 43 27
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Scoring at Levels 5, 6, 7 8 in Reading at End
of Third Grade by Mexican Generation
Group Level 5 Level 6 Level 7 Level 8
Whites-3rd Gen. 96 83 53 33
Mexican-1st Gen. 77 46 18 12
Mexican-2nd Gen. 86 53 20 12
Mexican-3rd Gen. 94 75 38 22
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Longitudinal ECLS-K Data by SES and Race/Ethnic
Group
ECLS-K
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Hispanic K-3 Achievement Trajectories

• SUMMARY
• Throughout K-3 there are sustained achievement
  differences between Hispanic subgroups by country
  of origin.
• Children of Cuban origin, followed by those from
  South American origin, fare the best in reading
  and mathematics (K-3) and score as well as Whites
  in third grade reading and slightly higher than
  Whites in third grade mathematics.

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Hispanic K-3 Achievement Trajectories

• SUMMARY
• Children from Mexican and Central American score
  lowest in reading and in mathematics at the start
  of kindergarten
• At 3rd grade children of Mexican origin score the
  lowest in math and readinggenerational status
  important.

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Effects of Tulsa Pre-K Program by Race/Ethnicity
of Student
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Age-Equivalent Test Scores for Children Exposed
to Tulsa Pre-K
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RECENT PUBLICATIONS Garcia, E. and Gonzalez,
D. M. (2006) Pre-k and Latinos. Pre-K Now
Research Series. Washington , DC
www.preknow.org. Garcia, E. and Jensen, B.
(2007) Helping Young Hispanic Learners.
Educational Leadership, 64, 6, pp.
34-39.





National Task Force on Early Childhood Education
for Hispanics

La Comisión Nacional para la Educación de la
Niñez Hispana
www.ecehispanic.org
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Specific Task Force Analyses Initial Findings
PREGUNTAS?
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Eugene E. Garcia, Ph.D.
Office of the Vice President, Ed.
Partnerships Arizona State University P.O. Box
870211 Tempe, AZ 85287-0211
E-Mail Eugene.Garcia_at_asu.edu URL
http//www.ecehispanic.org