Latinx students in New Jersey represent nearly a third of the state’s overall public school population and close to half of all preschool-aged students, yet a new report finds that they are being shortchanged in terms of resources and support.
The report — titled “The LatinX Experience in NJ Schools: A preliminary Overview” — is by the Joseph C. Cornwall Center for Metropolitan Studies at Rutgers University and was commissioned by The Latino Action Network Foundation.
One of the barriers that lead author Dr. Vandeen Campbell found most problematic was in access to guidance counselors. In 2019–2020, when the statewide ratio of students-to-counselor was 351:1, it was 517:1 in heavily Latinx schools.
“We saw a huge disparity in the availability of counselors,” said Campbell. “We know in thinking about the transition from high school to college, that’s part of the era where counselors are really important. What information are students getting about post-secondary options? Are they being guided in a way that does not bias towards lower-level opportunities?
“When one counselor sees some 500 students, how much can we really help them?” she said.
The report also found that Latinx students are attending increasingly segregated schools, and those schools are more likely to experience higher levels of poverty.
