Educational Attainment Rises Among All Americans

Americans across major racial and ethnic groups became better educated over the past decade, though significant gaps remain in the rates at which blacks and Hispanics earn a high school diploma or college degree, a new analysis of U.S. census data finds.

The report from the Brookings Institution also highlights the continued "demographic transformation" of the United States, with nonwhites accounting for 83 percent of population growth between 2000 and 2008, a trend observers say heightens challenges for schools across the country.

The percentages of both Hispanic and black adults, age 25 and older, who hold at least a high school diploma climbed by about 8 percentage points between 2000 and 2008, the Brookings analysis finds. For Hispanics, it reached 61 percent, and for African-Americans, 81 percent. But those numbers were still well below the 90 percent of white adults with at least that credential. The figures count those who earned a General Educational Development certificate, or GED.

Meanwhile, college-completion rates also climbed for blacks and Hispanics, though by far smaller amounts, about 2 to 3 percentage points. In all, just 13 percent of Hispanic adults held a bachelor's degree in 2008, and 17.5 percent of black adults, compared with nearly 31 percent of whites. For adults of Asian descent, the proportion was 50 percent.

Deborah A. Santiago, a vice president at Excelencia in Education, a Washington-based group that promotes accelerated college success for Latinos, said she sees the improved high school diploma rates for Hispanics as an important development.

"There has been progress," she said. "I think it speaks to some of the efforts that really have been made in addressing dropouts."