In his State of the Union, the President made it clear that the most important contest this country faces today is not between Democrats and Republicans, but with competitors around the world for the jobs and industries of our time. To win that contest and secure prosperity for all Americans, the nation must out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world. The Latino community is integral to that plan to win the future. In today's American public education system, Latinos are by far the largest minority group, numbering more than 12.4 million in the country's elementary, middle and high schools. Currently, nearly 22 percent, or slightly more than 1 in 5, of all pre-K-12 students enrolled in America's public schools is Latino. Yet, Latino students face persistent obstacles to educational attainment. Less than half of Latino children are enrolled in any early learning program. Only about half of all Latino students earn their high school diploma on time; those who do complete high school are only half as likely as their peers to be prepared for college. Just 13 percent of Latinos have a bachelor's degree, and only 4 percent have completed graduate or professional degree programs. Overall, Latinos have the lowest education attainment level of any group in the U.S. In his speech at the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce conference in March 2009, the President laid out his education agenda and the importance of education to the Latino community, and to all Americans. President Obama called for a focus on early learning, higher standards for student learning, effective teachers and school leaders, and innovation that builds on what works in America's classrooms. Improving education also means providing support to turn around low-performing schools, reducing high school dropout rates and strengthening higher education to increase rates of college attainment and completion so that every student can realize his or her full potential. Appended are: (1) Additional Education-Related Information; and (2) Executive Order--White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics.

This landmark volume represents the work of the National Latino/a Education Research Agenda Project (NLERAP)-an initiative focused on school reform and educational research with and for Latino communities. NLERAP's goal is to bring together various constituencies within the broad Latino community who are concerned with public education to articulate a Latino perspective on research-based school reform, and to use research as a guide to improving the public school systems that serve Latino students and to maximizing their opportunities to participate fully and equally in all social, economic, and political contexts of society. Latino Education: An Agenda for Community Action Research conceptualizes and illustrates the theoretical framework for the NLERAP agenda and its projects. This framework is grounded in three overlapping areas of scholarship and activism, which are reflected within the chapters in this volume: critical studies, illuminating and analyzing the status of people of color in the United States; Latino/a educational research, capturing the sociohistorical, cultural, and political schooling experiences of U.S. Latino/a communities; and participatory action research, exemplifying a liberation-oriented methodology for truly transformative education. The volume includes both descriptive educational research and critical analyses of previous research and educational agendas related to Latino/a communities in the United States. According to current U.S. Census data, Latinos now comprise the largest minority group in the total U.S. population. Historically, reflecting larger sociohistorical and economic inequalities in U.S. society, the Latino community has not been well served by U.S. public school systems. More attention to the Latino students' educational issues is needed to redress this problem, especially given the tremendous population increase and projected growth of Latino communities in the U.S. Latino Education: An Agenda for Community Action Research is a major contribution toward this goal.

Intended for staff of agencies, organizations, and others who desire to strengthen their partnerships with Latino communities, this brief publication addresses to issues that concern many public agencies and nonprofit, community-based organizations.

In his State of the Union, the President made it clear that the most important contest this country faces today is not between Democrats and Republicans, but with competitors around the world for the jobs and industries of our time. To win that contest and secure prosperity for all Americans, we must out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world. The Latino community is integral to that plan to win the future. There are 50.5 million Hispanics in the United States, composing 16 percent of the total population and a significant portion of the labor force. When you add the nearly 4 million residents of Puerto Rico, the total number of Latinos surpasses 54 million. Between 2000 and 2010, the Latino population increased by 15.2 million, accounting for more than half of the 27.3 million increase in the total population of the United States. In the coming decades, Latinos will continue to drive the growth of the labor force, as they will account for 60 percent of the Nation's population growth between 2005 and 2050. In this way, Latino success in education and in the labor market is of both immediate and long-term importance to America's economy. Latinos are a young population. There are 17.1 million Latinos ages 17 and younger in the U.S., more than 23 percent of this age group. In today's American public education system, Latinos are by far the largest minority group, numbering more than 12.4 million in the country's elementary, middle and high schools. Currently, nearly 22 percent, or slightly more than 1 in 5, of all pre-K-12 students enrolled in America's public schools is Latino. Yet, Latino students face persistent obstacles to educational attainment. Less than half of Latino children are enrolled in any early learning program. Only about half of all Latino students earn their high school diploma on time; those who do complete high school are only half as likely as their peers to be prepared for college. Just 13 percent of Latinos have a bachelor's degree, and only 4 percent have completed graduate or professional degree programs.

Latinos are currently the second-largest ethnic group demographically within the United States. By the year 2050 they are projected to number nearly 133 million, or approximately one third of the country’s total population. As the urban component of this population increases, the need for resources to support it will generate new cultural and economic stresses. Latino Placemaking and Planning offers a pathway to define, analyze, and evaluate the role that placemaking can have with respect to Latino communities in the context of contemporary urban planning, policy, and design practices. Using strategically selected case studies, Jesus J. Lara examines how Latinos contribute to the phenomenon of urban revitalization through the (re)appropriation of physical space for their own use and the consequent transformation of what were previously economically downtrodden areas into vibrant commercial and residential centers. The book examines the formation of urban cultures and reurbanization strategies from the perspective of Latino urbanism and is divided into four key sections, which address (1) emerging new urban geographies; (2) the power of place and neighborhood selection; (3) Latino urbanism case studies; and (4) lessons and recommendations for “reurbanizing” the city. Latino Placemaking and Planning illustrates the importance of placemaking for Latino communities and provides accessible strategies for planners, students, and activists to sustainable urban revitalization.

Directly applicable to practice, Group Activities for Latino/a Youth allows helping professionals such as human service workers, social workers, and school and community mental health counselors to select and apply a series of group sessions with topics relevant to today’s Latino/a youth. Each session contains detailed directions, suggested discussion questions, and additional readings on specific topics, with topic examples including grief, identity development, and conflict resolution. Sessions draw on Latino/a cultural norms and strengths to build culturally-informed communication and coping skills in an effort to improve educational, social, and career outcomes. A developmental perspective is used, and sessions are designed to be creative and interactive in order to appeal to the high energy and playfulness of youth at any age. Group Activities for Latino/a Youth helps professionals to better engage and retain Latino/a clients, a group that traditionally experiences one of the largest drop-out rates in therapy, often due to interventions largely informed by dominant Anglo norms and traditions.