Despite minorities making significant progress in higher education over the last 50 years, there is still a large achievement gap between minorities, specifically Blacks and Hispanics, and Whites. How do we close this gap? Also, what does it mean to close the gap in education? To answer this question, we must first understand what needs to be measured. Is it high school and/or college dropout rates? Is it high school or college graduation rates? Is it the gap in standardized tests scores? Last, and perhaps more to the point, who is being measured? Is the comparison between the rich and the poor, black and white, males and females? Educators have conflicting views concerning this matter.

Hispanic and African-American high school students are more likely to drop out of high school in every state. Of these high school graduates, college matriculation rates for African-American and Hispanic high-school students remain below those of white high-school graduates – although they have risen in recent years. Furthermore, of those students enrolling in college, Hispanic and black young adults are only half as likely to earn a college degree as white students.

Three critical factors, according to recent recent studies, must be addressed to improve the college enrollment rates among Blacks and Hispanics:

High educational aspirations: In order to close the achievement gap, more students must desire to attend college. Intervention on this front must start earlier than high school. High school graduates whose parents did not attend college tend to report lower educational aspirations than their peers as early as eighth grade. Low educational aspirations affect students‘ curricular choices, as well as their selection of peer groups.

These youth must have strong academic preparation to compete in today’s highly competitive world. School districts must strive to make courses more rigorous to better compete with other emerging and industrialized nations. Blacks and Hispanics are enrolling in advanced placement, honors and college preparatory courses at significantly lower rates than Whites: this trend must be corrected. Minority students need to be encouraged to face the challenge and take these more rigorous courses to prepare them for their future.

Financial support: Many low-income students simply cannot afford to go to college without scholarship support and reduced tuition options. However, despite the significant financial aid available, college “sticker prices” remain a barrier to first-generation students. Rising college costs coupled with flat or declining family incomes have created unmet financial needs – a college education can cost as much $50,000 per academic year.

Education creates an even playing field. It provides the best route out of poverty, the best public citizens and workforce prepared to make a better world. Education erases many of woes of human existence: illiteracy, poverty, racism and crime. If a society allows minorities or any other group to lag behind, then they are actually creating a burden that directly impacts the quality of their lives and their children‘s lives. Therefore, closing the gap in education is the responsibility of the whole society, not just the group that is lagging behind.

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