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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 12, 2003

News Release

NEA President Reg Weaver Expresses Concern About Today's Hispanic Drop Out Rate Report 

The National Education Association (NEA) remains seriously concerned about the terribly high Hispanic drop out rate. 

Foreign born or native born, Latino students are dropping out at rates higher than any other group, nearly double the eight percent rate of white teenagers, meaning that the issue is not just one of English language proficiency. 

NEA's 2.7 million members are working to provide both native born and immigrant Hispanic students with the tools they need to meet their highest potential. 

We must ensure that educators know the culture of their students in order to fully engage them in class work, that teachers have relevant textbooks and that Hispanic and other minority students have minority role models in their teachers and school administrators.  It's a long, hard battle, and we will remain on the front lines.    

We also applaud the Pew Hispanic Center's analysis of Hispanic drop out rates by immigrant and U.S. born status.  Such reports provide the data that we as educators need to determine best practices and strategies in our work to reach and teach all children.

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The National Education Association is the nation’s largest professional employee organization, representing 2.7 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support professionals, school administrators, retired educators, and students preparing to become teachers.