DixieDestroyer
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Ah yes, the wonders of "diversity" & our joyous "melting pot" utopia.
Kindergartens see more Hispanic, Asian students
Demographics of 5-year-olds, race or ethnicity:
Source: Census Bureau
By Haya El Nasser and Paul Overberg, USA TODAY
The kindergarten class of 2010-11 is less white, less black, more Asian and much more Hispanic than in 2000, reflecting the nation's rapid racial and ethnic transformation.
The profile of the 4 million children starting kindergarten reveals the startling changes the USA has undergone the past decade and offers a glimpse of its future. In this year's class, for example, about one out of four 5-year-olds will be Hispanic. Most of today's kindergartners will graduate from high school in 2023.
More Hispanic children are likely in the next generation because the number of Hispanic girls entering childbearing years is up more than 30% this decade, says Kenneth Johnson, demographer at the University of New Hampshire's Carsey Institute. "It's only the beginning."
U.S. MAP: County-by-county look at diversity
DIVERSITY: Minority births drive growth in U.S.
CENSUS 2010: Full coverage
A USA TODAY analysis of the most recent government surveys shows:
"¢ About 25% of 5-year-olds are Hispanic, a big jump from 19% in 2000. Hispanics of that age outnumber blacks almost 2 to 1.
"¢ The percentage of white 5-year-olds fell from 59% in 2000 to about 53% today and the share of blacks from 15% to 13%.
"This is not just a big-city phenomenon," Johnson says. "The percentage of minority children is growing faster in the suburbs and in rural areas."
In Lake County, Ind., a Chicago suburb, the under-20 population went from 51.8% white in 2000 to 47.1% in 2008, Johnson's research shows. In rural Nebraska's Colfax and Dakota counties, the share of Hispanic youths is rising while young whites are down from 60% to about 45% in the same period.
"¢ Schools face linguistic challenges. The share of 5-year-olds who speak English at home slipped from 81% in 2000 to about 78%. The share of Spanish speakers grew from 14% to 16%.
"That makes issues of language development and how to teach them even more important than 10 years ago," says W. Steven Barnett, co-director of the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University. "In some districts, 40% of their kids are Latino, and 4% of their teachers are. It's a huge gap."
Educators are grappling with the challenge, and "we really have a long way to go before we understand what the best methods are," says Lisa Guernsey, director of the Early Education Initiative at the non-profit New America Foundation. Today's kindergartners are tomorrow's high schoolers, and "we need to know what their needs are."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/census/2010-08-27-1Akindergarten27_ST_N.htm
Kindergartens see more Hispanic, Asian students
Demographics of 5-year-olds, race or ethnicity:
Source: Census Bureau
By Haya El Nasser and Paul Overberg, USA TODAY
The kindergarten class of 2010-11 is less white, less black, more Asian and much more Hispanic than in 2000, reflecting the nation's rapid racial and ethnic transformation.
The profile of the 4 million children starting kindergarten reveals the startling changes the USA has undergone the past decade and offers a glimpse of its future. In this year's class, for example, about one out of four 5-year-olds will be Hispanic. Most of today's kindergartners will graduate from high school in 2023.
More Hispanic children are likely in the next generation because the number of Hispanic girls entering childbearing years is up more than 30% this decade, says Kenneth Johnson, demographer at the University of New Hampshire's Carsey Institute. "It's only the beginning."
U.S. MAP: County-by-county look at diversity
DIVERSITY: Minority births drive growth in U.S.
CENSUS 2010: Full coverage
A USA TODAY analysis of the most recent government surveys shows:
"¢ About 25% of 5-year-olds are Hispanic, a big jump from 19% in 2000. Hispanics of that age outnumber blacks almost 2 to 1.
"¢ The percentage of white 5-year-olds fell from 59% in 2000 to about 53% today and the share of blacks from 15% to 13%.
"This is not just a big-city phenomenon," Johnson says. "The percentage of minority children is growing faster in the suburbs and in rural areas."
In Lake County, Ind., a Chicago suburb, the under-20 population went from 51.8% white in 2000 to 47.1% in 2008, Johnson's research shows. In rural Nebraska's Colfax and Dakota counties, the share of Hispanic youths is rising while young whites are down from 60% to about 45% in the same period.
"¢ Schools face linguistic challenges. The share of 5-year-olds who speak English at home slipped from 81% in 2000 to about 78%. The share of Spanish speakers grew from 14% to 16%.
"That makes issues of language development and how to teach them even more important than 10 years ago," says W. Steven Barnett, co-director of the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University. "In some districts, 40% of their kids are Latino, and 4% of their teachers are. It's a huge gap."
Educators are grappling with the challenge, and "we really have a long way to go before we understand what the best methods are," says Lisa Guernsey, director of the Early Education Initiative at the non-profit New America Foundation. Today's kindergartners are tomorrow's high schoolers, and "we need to know what their needs are."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/census/2010-08-27-1Akindergarten27_ST_N.htm