Hispanics have a much higher high school dropout rate than do blacks or whites, but far fewer Hispanics obtain a General Educational Development (GED) credential. Some 41% of Hispanics ages 20 and older in the U.S. do not have a regular high school diploma, versus 23% of comparably aged blacks and 14% of whites. But only one-in-ten Hispanic high school dropouts (9%) have a GED. By contrast, 20% of black high school dropouts and 29% of white high school dropouts have obtained a GED. There are significant educational differences between native-born and foreign-born Hispanics. Foreign-born Hispanics are far more likely not to graduate high school (52% dropouts) than are the native born (25% dropouts). Among dropouts, just 5% of the foreign born have GEDs while 21% of the native born do. Read More

Russell Heimlich  is a former web developer at Pew Research Center.