Report: Gaps between R.I.’s Latino and white students’ achievement are among worst in nation | Breaking News | providencejournal.com | The Providence Journal - The Providence Journal: PROVIDENCE — Rhode Island’s English-language learners are facing a crisis. They have some of the lowest scores in the country, and they face some of the nation’s largest achievement gaps, according to a study by the Latino Policy Institute at Roger Williams University.
“We’re not a special population anymore,” said Latino Policy Institute director Anna Cano Morales. In Providence, Pawtucket and Central Falls, “we are the population.”
Latinos are the fastest-growing demographic group in Rhode Island, and they are responsible for all of the state’s population growth between 2000 and 2010. The state proportionally has the 13th-largest Latino population in the nation.
And yet the gaps between Latino and white achievement in Rhode Island are among the worst in the country. Latino student performance also lags behind national averages for the same population, according to the study.
