In 2009, Excelencia in Education launched the Ensuring America's Future initiative to inform, organize, and engage leaders in a tactical plan to increase Latino college completion. An executive summary of Latino College Completion in 50 states synthesizes information on 50 state factsheets and builds on the national benchmarking guide. Each…

Young immigrants are challenging the boundaries of citizenship and insisting on their human rights. This chapter examines the civic lives of immigrant youth through the case of Latina/os, exploring the paradox of their apparent low civic education and engagement levels and remarkable participation in recent protests. After an overview of…

With projections of the decline of the Texas economic base, graduation rates and percentages of Hispanic students at Texas community colleges were examined to determine whether statistically significant increases were present from the years 2000 to 2008. In 2010, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board modified the major initiative Closing…

We conducted a cross-sectional, random-digit-dial survey to evaluate public responses to a hypothetical question: "If someone you knew was suicidal, what would you do first?" Younger people were more likely to call a suicide hotline, and less likely to go to an emergency room (ER) or call 911; immigrants (in the U.S. less than 15 years) were more…

All suicides by Hispanics (n = 434) and non-Hispanic Whites (n = 3,370) in Colorado from 2004 to 2008 using the Violent Death Reporting System were examined. Hispanic victims were significantly younger. Adjusting for age and gender, Hispanic victims were less likely to have reported depressed mood [odds ratio (OR) 0.78; 95% confidence interval…

As a method for placing Latina college students at the center of research, authors present a dramatic, or performative, text illuminating participants' life stories. The dramatic text serves as a fictional event bringing to light how five Latina students view their ethnic identities and educational values based on messages from family and peers.…

Hispanics' earnings remain below those of Whites, even after controlling for educational attainment. This article explores the effect of college major on estimated starting salaries of White and Hispanic bachelor's-degree recipients from Connecticut colleges and universities. Results indicate that while the earnings gap between Hispanic and White…

Despite elevated levels of substance use among many Latino youths, there has been little research on protective factors against such use. In keeping with federal commitments to address health disparities, this prospective study examined the protective influence of religion on substance use among a school-based sample (N = 804) of youths of Mexican…

This article provides a rationale and suggests an approach for investigating the school activism of Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, and Cubans in the history of education. This more inclusive and comparative approach to Latino activism deepens the understanding of their complex struggles for equality and pluralism in American education. It shows…

Using event history modeling, this study explored to what extent loans, grants, institutional aid, and work-study affect timing to first departure for Latino college students. The goal is to understand more about how aid promotes or perturbs success for Latino students as well as how those effects vary over time. Federal grants and targeted loans…

This study was designed to examine the structure of vocational interests in a diverse sample of individuals who completed the 2005 revision of the Strong Interest Inventory. We examined the fit of three racial/ethnic groups (African American, Caucasian, and Latino/a), both genders, and three levels of professional status (GRS participant, student,…

Engineering, a field that has shaped the world's industrial and technological base, is ripe for an influx of Latino undergraduate students. Given U.S. Latino population increases, what is the trajectory of Latino participation in engineering education? Using an interdisciplinary lens, we critically examine Latino trends in undergraduate…

While there are increasing efforts to address the problem of domestic violence and trauma in the justice, health care, and social service systems, the adult education system still lags behind. The inattention to this issue in adult education is particularly troubling because these programs often play a significant role in the lives of women who…

What works to increase Latino student success in higher education? Since 2005, "Excelencia" in Education has led the only national effort to recognize evidence-based practices that accelerate Latino student success in higher education through Examples of "Excelencia." Through this process, "Excelencia" recognizes…

Numerous studies show that mainstream classroom teachers still remain inadequately prepared to teach diverse students and lack the knowledge base and skills to teach English language learners (ELLs). This has profound implications, particularly in the Southeast, where the rate of school-aged Latino immigrants has grown significantly. Thus, this…