BY PAMELA CORANTE
UCLA Today
Latina students in California do not have equal
access to accelerated K-12 programs, accounting in part for
the low percentage of Latina undergraduate students in the University
of California system, according to a recent report partially
funded by the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center.
“The educational system is letting gifted
Latina students fall through the cracks,” said Chon Noriega,
center director and professor of film and television. “First,
they are denied access to these programs, and now university
outreach efforts are expected to be cut by 50% next year. This
report is a clarion call to examine the policies and other factors
that produce such inequity.”
Although Latina students comprise a high proportion
of total enrollment in California public schools, authors of
the report found their numbers disproportionately small in academic
enrichment programs such as the Gifted and Talented Education
program (GATE) and advanced placement courses.
Daniel Solorzano, professor and chair of the
Department of Education, and his research team found that the
procedures used to identify “gifted” students are
at the discretion of school districts, schools and teachers,
with little or no state oversight of students’ eligibility
standards or of the reevaluation of students in the program.
“Without access to such enrichment programs,
Latinas are effectively ‘gated out’ from later placement
in upper-division math, science, and honors and Advanced Placement
courses,” Solorzano said.
Data from the California Department of Education
show that Latina students dropped out of high school at a rate
two to three times higher than their white female peers. They
are also statistically underrepresented in math and science
courses and effectively locked out of the math and science classes
necessary for college entrance. Enrollment in higher math courses,
for instance, is 28% for white female students, compared to
only 15% for Latinas.
Among the inequalities reported for Latina
students from kindergarten through 12th grade are the lack of
enriched curricula and qualified teachers, school segregation
and lower-financed schools.
“All of these factors lead to fewer positive
educational outcomes,” Solorzano said.
