Susan Castillo, Superintendent of Public Instruction for the state of Oregon, recently gave a presentation on the state of Latinos in Oregon's public schools. The statistics show a troubling achievement gap between Latinos and the general student population; not only do Latino students score more poorly on standardized tests in math and reading, they drop out of school at much higher rates than their white peers. With Latinos students now making up 20% of Oregon's K-12 student body, we need to do better for the future of our state. The Common Core State Standards are trying to help ensure students have clear, consistent standards to reach in all parts of the state. These standards will help ensure all students have the same expectations regardless of their school district, a change that will be very useful especially for migrant students and English Language Learners.
