Latino Research Group Sets Ambitious Agenda

A group of researchers and advocates unveiled a framework last week for a new generation of education studies that might better meet the needs of the nation’s growing population of Latino students.

Statisticians predict that the percentage of Hispanic children in the nation’s K-12 schools will grow from 14 percent in 2000 to 25 percent in 2050. Yet, according to the National Latino Education Research Agenda Project, or NLERAP, educators still know little about how to best serve that diverse, rapidly growing population—partly because relatively few education studies have focused on Latinos.

“Questions about who decides what research gets done and for what purpose are answered in foundation and government circles, where Latino voices are absent,” said Pedro Pedraza, the director of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at City University of New York and the project founder. “There’s a big gap, and we need...