The state of academic performance for Latino and English as second language
(ESL) students provided an opportunity for programs such as bilingual education and
ESL to be evaluated and audited to ensure a poised position for public education’s
student receipt and effective design model for four-year graduation. An empirical study
by Lofstrum (2007) revealed that the added controls of English proficiency and ESL were
“variables found to affect dropout probability” (pp. 18-19). Data for the generational
subsets of Latino students also yielded variances. First-generation Hispanics, meaning
native-born children of immigrant parents have the following characteristics: immigrate
at an older age, had dropped out of school in their home country, had never attended an
American school, or had very low English proficiency. Second-generation and third3
generation Hispanics, children and grandchildren of the first generation, were less likely
to drop out of school than first generation students due to educational experience and
attendance in the U. S. public school system (Jones & Bou-Waked, 2007; Perreira,
Harris, & Lee, 2006). In the 2000s, 85% of ESL students were born in the United States
to immigrant parents (Public Policy Institute, 2005).