Focusing on Latino Parents' Strengths | EdCentral: One of the biggest challenges for writing about traditionally underserved demographics in American education is to remember to take an assets-based approach. It can be easy to focus on what students from these backgrounds lack, rather than what they bring to the table. This is a common problem for education policy discussions orbiting Latino students. There’s no question that these students frequently face serious challenges: over one-third of Latinos are enrolled at high-poverty schools. Meanwhile, fewer than one in twenty white students are enrolled in such schools.
But these sorts of challenges are far from the whole story. When asked, young Latinos are more likely than any other young demographic to respond that “college is important for getting ahead in life.” This should come as no surprise, given that Latino parents respond with similarly high levels of enthusiasm for education.
