Trujillo-Principe 1

Mili Trujillo Principe

English 7

Project Mentor Quesada Turner

25 May 2023

Causes and Effects of Dropping in High Schools in the United States

Are underrepresented students pushed out of high schools or quit on their own? Some

policymakers and educators have tried to explain why Black and Hispanic high school students

are the most affected by dropping out of school compared to White students. This leads me to

formulate the following questions: What do the education community members (school advisors)

do to prevent dropping out of high school? Are external or internal factors determinants in

students’ decision to give up high school? Why are students of these communities the most

affected? Do programs created to re-enroll high school students help them to continue higher

education? To answer these questions, I searched literature and statistics, which has led me to

conclude that some Black students drop out of high school due to strict school policies imposed

by administrators and subtle discrimination whereas Hispanic students don't feel safe in high

school because of their immigration status and cultural differences.

Multiple causes lead Black students to drop out of high school because strict policies

followed up with severe punishment against Black students are two of the main causes. Strict

policies and punishment are often connected. In the 2020 article "Pushed out for Missing School:

The Role of Social Disparities and School Truancy in Dropping Out," Mireles et al. found that

thirty-nine Hispanic and Black students dropped out of high school due to punitive truancy

control was one of the main reasons. Missing school due to these types of drastic sanctions
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negatively affects, especially Black students. If a student is suspended for bad behavior, it is

obvious that they will miss classes, so these students were indirectly pushed out by some

counselors who told them, "You can't graduate because you miss several classes," and "You

didn't have enough credit." In the article "Pushed out for Missing School: The Role of Social

Disparities and School Truancy in Dropping Out" the authors conclude that the education

community most of the time assumes that students who left school were by their own decision,

but in reality, some members of the school don’t provide support to these marginalized group of

students; in contrast, school community focuses in attendance and student performance, so they

might be pushing these students out unintentionally (Mireles et al. 2020). The counselor’s job is

re-focus students, but sometimes school workers follow school rules, which leads to Black

students dropping out of high school. Both strict polices and punishment leads to sanctions of

students by school members.

School suspensions and the strict attendance policies exerted by some school members

against Black students seem severe compared to White students. Even though there are policies

that students should follow at school, there is no reason to make them feel unworthy or treated

differently than their White classmates. As a result of this treatment, some students don’t want to

be at school, and they find any excuse to convince themselves that giving up school is a good

decision. The article "Disparities and Discrimination in Student Discipline by Race and Family

Income" mentions that Black and poor students receive more drastic punishment than White

students for the same infraction, like fighting between classmates (Barrett et al.) Victor Rios, in

his book Punished, analyzes the challenging experiences of Black and Latino teenagers facing

punitive policies at their community and school in Oakland, California. Rios, a former gang

member and then an ethnographer who graduated from Berkeley, approaches the topic as an
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“insider” and “outsider.” Rios, in his research, observed 40 teenagers between 14-17 years old

over 03 years. Those students were marginalized and criminalized by police officers and school

members. This is the case of Slick, who lost a friend in a shooting in Oakland streets, and later

Slick was treated “differently by his instructors as if he were responsible for his friend’s death.”

(Rios 6) Slick confessed to Rios that her instructor called the police when he returned to school

after the shooting incident. As a result, Slick was sent to the principal office, and the vice-

principal told him, ‘I have to kick you out because you have missed too many school days.’”

(qtd. Rios 6) Rios concluded that Black youth face the worst criminalization in Oakland in

comparison with light-skinned Latinos even if they dressed up formally (Rios 18) Results of

systematic criminalization toward these minority groups, many students are discouraged by the

school community, excessive police force, and even family members. Facing high rate-

suspension at schools, those students are more likely to be arrested and incarcerated later in life,

so school leaders should think about the negative impact and consider positive reinforcement and

restorative measures.

Meanwhile some Hispanic students mentioned that the fear of being arrested because of

their immigration status was a cause of quitting school. In some states like Alabama,

immigration status is one of the reasons for dropping out of school for the Latino community

(Obina et al.) Viviana, a Hispanic dropout student, who explains her fear of being deported

because of her immigration status, “I would miss school because I was afraid to leave the house”

(Mireles et al. 2020). Viviana mentions that she was afraid not only of her own situation but also

feared for her parents. If the immigration office deports them, she would be separated from her

parents. Although the federal law protects students from to not being arrested for immigration

reasons at schools, the opposite happened in Alabama. The fear of being separated from their
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family at a young age might be traumatic, so these students require support from parents and the

education system.

Immigration status is not the only problem affecting Hispanic students because cultural

differences among Hispanic students appear to be another cause of school dropout. In the 1970s,

getting pregnant was the end of school in the United States for female students. Fortunately, this

policy has been abolished; however, schools now encourage pregnant students to stay at school,

graduate, and get their diplomas. Some statistics show that there has been a reduction in

pregnancies among students in schools, but Hispanic students’ dropout rate due to pregnancy

remains the highest compared to other ethnicities. Therefore, it still need work to be done to

address the issue in Hispanic students. A study made by Berg and Teresa between 1995 and 2000

found that Hispanic girls in 9th grade in Texas drop out were higher than their Black

counterparts because of cultural differences. When a Latina girl gets pregnant, some parents

arrange marriage because of their strong beliefs in families; thus, it is impossible to go back to

school because they have to take care of the baby and set up a family. In other words, they are

“pushed out by their own family.” Even though pregnancy in unrepresented students such as

Hispanics is still the highest, some Hispanic families believe strongly in families so they support

marriage rather than encouraging their daughters to graduate.

For more than 15 years, the graduation rate at high schools has increased in America, but

Covid-19 was another cause to contribute to the increase in high school dropout rates in 31 states

in 2021. In the article “Cascade of Factors Drive Down Graduation Rates,” Sparks mentions that

the population more affected were students of color. As a result, graduation rates dropped “Five

percentage points for Black students, and four percentage points for Hispanic students.” The

dropout rate of students from 16 to 24 years old, [Young adults who are not enrolled in high
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school and who lack a high school credential such as a GED certificate are included for statistic

purposes] was 2.0 million higher for males than for females among those who were Hispanic

(8.9 vs. 5.9 percent) and Black (5.6 vs. 2.9 percent) As we can see, one of the indicators in most
(Figure 1. Status dropout rates of 16- to 24-year-olds by race/ethnicity: 2010 and 2020)
of the studies reviewed is

the statistics of the

graduation rate of high

school students, and the

decrease in graduation was

Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics

evident because of Covid-

19 in the last two years (NCES). In order to figure out which ethnicity has improved more in

recent years, it was crucial to know the population per ethnicity. The United States Census

Bureau shows that America has eight different kinds of ethnicities with a total population of

333,287,557. One of the highest populations in America is the Hispanic population, with 18.9%,

while 13.6% are African American. Although the Latino population faces more difficulties such

as learning a new language compared to other ethnicities, this population has improved a lot as

their counterparts from 2010-2020. Several studies show that the U.S. Department of Education

is worried about the

graduation rate, and

policy advocates and

educators are eager to

accomplish that

objective, and they also

Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
make a projection for
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the coming years. However, this projection points out that “race categories exclude persons of

Hispanic ethnicity.” What is the main reason for excluding this significant population from such

studies? According to Pew Research Center survey conducted in 2021, “Currently, the Hispanic

category is described in census forms and surveys and not a race with respondents given explicit

instructions indicating so.” (Bustamante et al) Education System talks about democratization

and inclusion of students of minority, but it doesn’t reflect in its projection. Therefore, these

students of minority are still facing inequalities after graduating from high school because they

might not be able to achieve higher education. But what happens with these students after getting

a high school Diploma? Are they able to go to community colleges or four-year education?

Mireles et al. criticize the job of some teachers and counselors because they sometimes

contribute in certain ways to students’ dropouts with punitive comments or prolonged

suspension. Carla et al. suggest that counselors’ work is fundamental to giving information to

parents and students to make informed decisions for their future. In addition, the authors point

out that a counselor’s job is fundamental in a partnership between higher education institutions,

parents, and students because some programs of re-enrollment goals are the measurement of

graduation rate. Nevertheless, they don’t focus on the future of these pupils. They conclude that

counselors require resources instead of criticism to improve their job performance. Therefore,

schools should hire more diverse counselors and teachers to help students bridge this stage,

especially those with socioeconomic problems.

Even though the stigma toward students who drop out of high school is tremendous,

especially the pregnant ones, some Black and Hispanic girls found the courage of being a mother

to fight with the judgmental society and decide to return to finish school and graduate. In the

article “Cloaked in Invisibility: Dropout-Recovery Narratives of Girls of Color after Re-

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enrollment,” Dorothy Hines-Datiri explores re-enrolling some students after leaving school.

Hines found that “despite these negative educational experiences for girls of color, graduation

rates for Black and Latina girls have improved over the past decade.” These recovery programs

consist of providing support services to those students who drop out of school, such as credit

recovery, social-emotional needs, counseling, and evaluation of academic records, which are

provided not only to the student but also to their families. The purpose of this program has been

created to address the gap and stigma so that schools increase school graduation rates. On the

other hand, Borman et al., in their study "Impacts of a Brief Self-Affirmation Intervention in

Middle School Helps Propel African American and Latino Students Through High School,"

found that the self-affirmation intervention can mitigate the threat of the stereotype in African

American and Latino students because these students face negative and biased stereotypes that

could affect their ability to succeed in school. Re-enrollment programs are like palliative

medicine but not a cure for the disease because of Outcome Based Education (OBE) where

schools measure their success through graduation rate. Although it is important to get a

certification, schools must prepare their students to bridge to higher education. The graduation

rate is an important measure, but it may not always indicate that students are fully prepared for

higher education or the competitive job market.

Dropping high school has negative consequences in the short and long term. In the article

"Patterns and Factors of High School Dropout Risks of Racial and Linguistic Groups," the

authors suggest that students who drop out of high school could have an uncertain and harmful

future. The researchers argue that some former scholars get involved in crime, unemployment,

and lower wages than pupils earning their diplomas (Kim et al.) On the other side, Stearns

emphasizes that dropping out of high school hurts the individual and society in the distant future.
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When some teenagers decide to quit school, they compromise their future. She also mentions that

leaving school is a long process that many students face because of “disengagement,

disaffiliation, or negative experience.” Although some scholars who quit high school succeed in

life, most of them have disadvantages because they cannot compete with others who graduated.

As a result, these students face job inequities and are prone to falling for bargains, which means

that some students is more likely to be taken advantage of or misled by a deal that seems too

good to be true. In the book, Punished, Rios reports that one of forty students who observed in

his study, graduated from college and most of them ended up in prison because they have

difficulty finding jobs. Lack of jobs and discouragement from schools are factors that push these

students to join gangs. Even though they were aware that their action is wrong, they don’t have

the motivation to change their life (Rios 165) When these students decide to quit high school,

they limit themselves in many aspects of life, such as economic, social, and academic, but some

of them might regret it later; however, it is difficult to see at a young age that education is the

path to change their future.

As part of this research, I interviewed Wendy Castellanos, an Salvadoran immigrant, who

came to the United States as a kid. Castellanos, who dropped out of high school several years

ago mentions that the determining factor for leaving school was external even though she

recognizes there are internal problems at schools. She explains that her parents were separated

and never went to school to see her daughter’s progress. She used to enroll at school by herself

because she didn't receive any support from her parents, so she decided to work. Castellanos also

suggests that some teachers favor White students and isolate and marginalize non-white students.

She emphasizes that one of her teachers didn't care when some students complained about these

issues. I also asked her if she received support from the school counselors, and she told me, “If
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you don't ask for help, nobody is going to help you.” On top of that, Castellanos emphasizes that

she was studying to get her GED certification but couldn't finish it because she had an accident

and have difficulty concentrating. In addition, she is a mother. My final question was, what

would her life have been like if she had graduated from high school? Castellanos answered that

she would have studied at a four-year college. Consequently, she would have been working from

home because she would have gotten a good-paying job, and her life would be different. She also

states that as immigrants we must learn and overcome the language barrier and cultural

differences to succeed academically. She concludes that education is strictly one’s responsibility.

Even though some students like Castellanos, who drop out of school are aware of the cost-benefit

of getting educated, they need school support to overcome the mindset because some students

lost their motivation if they don’t have role models at home.

To reinforce Castellanos’s assertion that some instructors show preference toward

students who don’t belong to the minority, it was important to search for the demography of

school teachers in the United States. Statistic from Pew Research Center shows that one in ten

teachers is either Black (7%) or Hispanic (9%) while 47% of teachers are White. Meanwhile,

27% of students are Hispanic and 15% are Black (Katherine Schaeffer) Besides, Jerry Craft in

his autobiographical book, New Kid, tackles inequality, identity, race, and social class at school

where he explains how it occurs. Jordan Banks, the main character, attends Riverdale high

school, a private school in Washington, where diversity is low, and the struggle to fit in is real.

Craft narrates that some instructors call African American students and colleagues by the wrong

names. For example, Ms. Rawle, a White instructor called one of his students “Deandre,” instead

of “Andre,” (Craft 60) These microaggressions exercised by some White instructors make

African American students feel overwhelmed and defensive. However, Mrs. Slate, another White
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instructor sees Jordan’s potential and encourages him to go on the trip to Paris to help him

pursue his art career (Craft 222) Therefore, a teenage student facing discrimination disguised as

microaggressions from some school members and external problems will find leaving school an

escape. Some instructors’ ethics might be questionable, but there are other instructors such as

Jordan’s art teacher who support their students to succeed, so these students may experience

discrimination disguised as microaggressions due to racial and socio-economic status. Even

though professors’ jobs are one of the most demanding, the system does not recognize good

teachers enough; on the contrary, they blame the Union. Professor Savanna Alliband-McGrew,

my French instructor at Las Positas College, has been teaching for over 23 years at different

educational levels. Alliband-McGrew is the current substitute teaching district-wide in

Livermore states, “I have seen so much of what is going on in our local school district,”

“Teachers are working hard, but I think the biggest problem is 'apathy as well as class size,” “If

every classroom could be 12-15 students, many of the problems facing American education

would disappear.” Reducing the class size might be ideal, but it is crucial to have more educators

of minorities because of the cultural differences. In addition, students do not see the value in

their education at an early age because there is no role model in their community or family

members of success via education, so they don't see the reason to go to school. It feels like a

prison, and they do not see themselves as a valued part of the "system". Most parents of these

students are single parents, work long hours, and have low incomes, so these students are alone

at school and home, so they are easy prey for drugs, crime, and gangs.

In addition, I interviewed my former Spanish professor, Hortencia Nevarez, who has

been teaching for over 20 years at different academic levels and institutions. Professor Nevarez

states that, throughout the years, she has observed the inequalities many first-generation college
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students face, especially Hispanic students. Professor Nevárez has seen that help is not always

allocated based on need but on an academic promise; hence, students with greater needs do not

necessarily get assistance. On the other hand, the Hispanic community is diverse, but the

educational system sometimes views Hispanic students as a homogeneous group. She also

mentioned that Hispanic students face tremendous challenges because they have to work long

hours while attending school. Furthermore, when Hispanics graduate from four-year colleges,

they tend to have difficulty finding a job in the field they studied because they are either not

familiar with the opportunities internships offer or they cannot afford to leave former jobs to take

advantage of internship opportunities, which often do not pay. As Professor Nevarez emphasizes

Hispanic students are not homogenous, this group has the most diverse cultural differences

because some students are first-generation born in America from Hispanic families, while other

groups are immigrants, and some of them have no education, therefore, the cultural differences

are tremendous. As a result, the leading cause of high school dropout among Latino and African

American scholars is not only external factors but also the Education system discouraging some

students.

Education System effort is ponderable in their wishes to graduate students at any cost,

however, the results from graduating are not focused to help students to pursue higher education.

Some students who struggled during school years when they graduate might not be fully

prepared to enroll in higher education because they can’t afford the tuition and fees associated

with college. Emily Boudreau, in her article, “School Discipline Linked to Later Consequences,”

found that dropout students of the minority who face high suspension are “less likely to attend a

four-year college.” In addition, as Professor Nevarez argues, the resources are allocated based on

students’ academic progress rather than necessity, so they might not qualify for scholarships. To
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support my thesis, I conducted a ten days-long online survey about high school dropouts of

African American and Hispanic students in the United States. I collected data from 44

participants, 31.8 % Hispanic, 29.5% African American, 13.6% White, 25.1% from other

ethnicities, 22.7% high school graduates, 2.3% GED certificate, 29.5% college graduates, and

45.5% with Master and Doctorate. To the question, Do you think there are racial inequalities at

public schools? According to the

survey results, 90.9% answered yes,

and 9.1% differs. Some White

people answered that there is no

racial inequalities at school while

Source: My own survey
African American, Hispanic, and

other ethnicities notice it. We can’t judge and blame White people because they might not have

noticed or have not experienced it, so they assume all are treated equally at schools. Another

question was: In your opinion, what is the main factor in abandoning school for African

American and Hispanic students? According to the survey result, the leading cause to abandon

school for both ethnicities is socioeconomic problems, while the second reason is work for

African American and cultural differences for Hispanics. The third reason is intentional

discrimination and strict policies/punishment for African American while migration status, work,

and language for Hispanics. Finally, pregnancy is the last issue with 13.9% African Americans

and 15.9% Hispanic students. Even though there are similarities between these two ethnicities,

Hispanic students face more challenges because of cultural and migration status. To the question:

What are the consequences of dropping school? According to the survey results, poverty is the

leading effect, followed by unemployment, and crime. This evidence shows us that leaving
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school is a sentence to poverty. Not having graduated from high school, students’ future is

compromised because lack of employment lead to poverty, and poverty lead to committing crime

as Victor Rios in his investigation found. The problems are linked. In addition, To the question:

Do you think graduating from high school guarantees higher education? According to the survey

results, 75% of participants answered

No while 25% differs, so this is a

wake-up call for some education

policymakers because they focus on

graduate students from high school but

Source: My own survey
the problem persists. The last question

was: Do you think education requires reform? According to the survey results, 81.8% answered

Yes while 18.2 differs.

Complex problems require complex solutions, especially in the education system because

underrepresented students do not deserve to be just a statistic for society. Serge Herzog, a doctor

in Philosophy and Director of Institutional Analysis at the University of Nevada Reno, found that

the classroom diversity factors effects are that “the average students in the least diverse classes

face 1.23% drop out while students in less diverse classes face 3.5% of drop-outs.” He found

that underrepresented students exposed to higher-prepared students are likely not to drop out. For

example, Black students close to their Asian classmates and Hispanic students exposed to

underrepresented minority (URM) classmates are associated with a lower dropout risk. Creating

a positive environment where Black and Hispanic students get positive influences from other

classmates seems an important finding. Some students sit together due to affinity and shared

interests while others have a hard time to fit at school; however, teachers might help integrate
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those students that are alone. In the article "The School of Life Dropout Prevention Curriculum:

A Case Report." Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports ( PBIS ) concludes that possible

solutions existent today are not enough to solve the main problem of preventing drop-outs

because schools can’t control big groups of students. To illustrate, Angel, a senior year school

student at Meadow Lark High School has been facing disengagement, tardiness, and failing to do

her duties as students. Therefore, school staff with the School of Life Education Foundation took

Angel's case, where she accepted to participate in this curriculum which consisted of two hours

of mentoring that helps the students with school work and psychological support (Wayman,

Grace, et al.) On the other side, Sterns concludes that students face many pressures during school

life and adolescence, suggesting a targeted intervention to prevent dropouts (Wayman et al.) If

the school creates a collaborative environment where teachers, education advocates, counselors,

and parents participate actively, there is a chance to prevent school desertion. Targeted

interventions (Tier 2) for students at risk of dropout are viable to implement because it doesn't

require a high amount of fund but require teamwork. School of Life Foundation has implemented

a curriculum in two states with positive results (Wayman et al.) Before leaving school, students

show several indicators: disengagement, tardiness, and failing exams. Finally, education in

America requires reforms because the measures established in these studies are relevant to urban

areas, but there are research limitations, especially in rural and impoverished school

communities.

Indeed, dropping high school is a big problem that faces American education

communities. While some statistics show a decrease in dropout in White students, Hispanic and

Black students still show the highest dropout. Some research suggests that the socioeconomic

problem is the origin of the problem and the education system contributes as well. But at the
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same time, Hispanic students have made progress reducing from 15 to 7 percent in 10 years,

while Black students reduced from 8 to 4 percent. However, this statistic is in urban areas, and

many undocumented immigrants or first-generation families live in rural areas because of

agricultural jobs that their parents or themselves do. Unfortunately, Hispanic students keep the

record of the highest dropout, and this ethnic group has more diverse factors than any other

ethnicity because of cultural differences as Professor Nevarez explained in the interview.

Meanwhile, Black students still face subtle discrimination at school, resulting in quitting school

for these ethnic groups, and another cause research shows that Black students still suffer severe

punishment compared to White students. On the other hand, students of Hispanic ethnicity drop

out of school because of cultural differences, such as families' beliefs about marriage after their

daughter gets pregnant. Poverty shouldn’t be the mother of the crime if our society doesn’t

cooperate negatively against those scholars who belong to the minority. However, Rios, in his

book, Punished, found that poverty and lack of role models and job opportunities in the early life

of these teenagers and punitive school practices, officers even parents pushed them to re-

victimize. Consequently, they act defensively to cope with frustration and rejection, which is

interpreted as hostile by some professors and followed by cops. Therefore, they internalize the

idea that they have nothing to lose to get involved in crimes such as selling drugs.

In the literature I reviewed, the education system requires several improvements because

some members of education system might be contributing into the desertion to minority student

because students don’t find support at home or school either. Students facing problems such as

socioeconomic are excluded systematically by zero-tolerance practices, and Hispanic students

are not included in projections made by the Education system (NCES). One of the possible

solutions might be tutoring and counseling, but we need committed teachers and counselors.
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Unfortunately, good teachers might prefer to work in private schools because of payment, so

public schools should promote good teachers instead of blaming the Union. How could

African American and Hispanic students' dropouts be prevented? According to the survey, 33

participants believe that tutoring/mentoring is a solution, and 31 participants think that hiring

professors and counselors of the same race and early intervention and re-enrollment might be

effective. Finally, parents’ active participation is primordial. The evidence shows that preventing

students from dropout requires multisectoral support. More support staff for those struggling

students can turn to for help and counseling in the language when they face difficulties with

English, so hiring more diverse teachers might be an effective solution. Besides, school teachers

should receive motivational courses so that motivated teachers can keep their students motivated.

Tutoring students on some subjects that show interest should be effective to keep students

motivated and don’t lose hope too. We argue that students who drop out of school are involved

in gangs, but they have no other choice due to systematic punishment and criminalization.

Therefore, we must stop criminalizing young students with negative records that exclude them

from job opportunities. Finally, reducing the class size to 15-20 students might be ideal because

professors might be able to recognize easily and provide services to at-risk students, however, it

requires funding. In a 2014 speech, Obama exclaimed, “When students abandon school, they fail

themselves and their own country, too!”.

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 Trujillo-Principe 18

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Department of State, 7 Dec. 2021. Accessed 18 Feb. 2023.

Rios, Victor M. Punished: Policing the Lives of Black and Latino Boys. NYU Press, 2011.
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Schaeffer, Katherine. "America's Public School Teachers Are Far Less Racially and Ethnically

Diverse than Their Students." Pew Research Center, 10 Dec. 2021,

www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2021/12/10/ americas-public-school-teachers-are-far-

less-racially-and-ethnically-diverse-than -their-students/. Accessed 20 Apr. 2023.

Sparks, Sarah D. "Cascade of Factors Drive Down Graduation Rates." Education Week, 7 Sept.

2022, https://ew.edweek.org/nxtbooks/epe/ew_09072022/index.php?startid=12#/p/12

"Status Dropout Rates." National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of State, 7

May. 2022. Accessed 18 Feb. 2023.

Stearns, Elizabeth. "High School Dropouts." Encyclopedia of Adolescence, edited by Roger J. r.

Levesque, 2nd ed., Springer Science+Business Media, 2018. Credo Reference,

lpclibrary.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/sprgstv

/high_school_dropouts/0. Accessed 22 Nov. 2022.

Wayman, Grace, et al. "The School of Life Dropout Prevention Curriculum: A Case Report."

Journal of Educational Issues, vol. 7, no. 1, 1 Jan. 2021, pp. 1-13. ERIC,

lpclibrary.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&d

b=eric&AN=EJ1304201&site=ehost-live.
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APPENDIX
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APPENDIX 01

SURVEY

INSTRUCTIONS:

The purpose of this technique is to collect information of interest on the investigation entitled

"High School Dropouts in America: Hispanic and African American Students," which is made up of

a set of questions. After reading the questions you must choose the alternative that you consider

correct, marking for this purpose with a cross (x). The data provided will be used for academic

purposes and the survey is anonymous.

1. What is your gender?

Male

Female

Prefer not to say

2. What is your ethnicity?

African/American

Hipanic/Latino

White

Prefer not to answer

3. What is your age?

18-24

25-34
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35-44

45-54

55-64

65+

4. Do you think there are racial inequalities at public schools?

Yes

No

5. Why do you think Hispanic and African American students drop out of school the

most?

Justify answer….

6. In your opinion, what is the main factor in abandoning school for African American

students? Select all that apply

Intentional discrimination

Strict polices/punishment

Pregnancy

Work

Socioeconomic

Other
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7. In your opinion, what is the main factor in abandoning school for Hispanic students?

Select all that apply.

Migration status

Work

Language

Cultural differences

Pregnancy

Socioeconomic

Other

8. How could African American and Hispanic students' dropouts be prevented? Select all

that apply.

9. What are the consequences of dropping school? Select all that apply!
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10. Do you think that graduating from high school is guarantee to higher education?

Yes

No

11. What is your education level?

12. Do you think education requires reform?

Yes

No

13. What reforms would benefit the education system, especially for African American

and Hispanic students? If you answered YES to the question above, could you explain?

Justify answer….