“Para Nuestros Niños: The School Readiness and Academic Achievement in Reading and Mathematics of Young Hispanic Children in the United States” is available from the National Task Force on Early Childhood Education for Hispanics.
Most Hispanic children begin kindergarten with a significantly lower level of reading readiness than their non-Hispanic white counterparts, says a study conducted by the Tempe, Ariz.-based National Task Force on Early Childhood Education for Hispanics.
By the end of 5th grade, Hispanic children continue to lag behind their white peers, but the gap is considerably smaller, according to the study. However, the 30 percent of Hispanic students who are not proficient enough in English to take a reading-readiness assessment before kindergarten lag far behind both white and other Hispanic students at the end of 5th grade.