Report: Gap in education attainment

Among the states with the largest Latino populations, Colorado has the largest disparity between white and Latino residents attaining post-secondary education, according to a new report.

Colorado is one of nine states with at least one million Latino residents, but it has the highest attainment gap of those states: Sixty-four percent of white residents have completed a highquality certificate, associate’s degree, bachelor’s degree or more, as compared to 39 percent of black residents and 29 percent of Latinos residents, according to a 68-page report released Tuesday by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce.

In the report, titled “Rocky Mountain Divide: Lifting Latinos and Closing Equity Gaps in Colorado,” the authors list findings and recommendations for the state to achieve educational equity.

“Colorado, with its fast-growing Latino population, is a bellwether state for explaining the college to career pipeline,” they wrote. “The state’s efforts can inform how the rest of the nation addresses leaks throughout the pipeline that widen attainment gaps between Whites and Latinos.”

The authors noted that although Colorado has the second most-educated adult populace, that is due in part to college-educated people moving to the state, rather than residents who are being educated here.

They proposed various solutions, including expanding high school counseling and career exploration programs and building stronger pathways between certificate, associate’s and bachelor’s programs.