Improving Math Skills: Boosting And Narrowing The Gap For Latinos

Poverty has been identified by researchers as the reason why Latinos lag behind their white contemporaries in terms of math skills. A report said the group's math skills can be improved by incorporating the subject into their daily lives, not only in schools but even at home. The report suggested the strengthening of their skills as early as kindergarten.

Enhancing the math skills of Hispanic children will greatly affect the country considering that one of every four students in kindergarten is Latino. The report, entitled "Make Math Count More For Young Latino" via Child Trends, has solicited the help of everyone in the community including parents and teachers, to integrate math skills even in home activities such as cooking and shopping.

"Latino children are twice as likely to be living in poverty as white children," Lina Guzman, Director of the Child Trends Hispanic Institute said. "Much of that gap in early math skills between Latino and black children is explained by poverty."

Families with low income do not have many books in their homes and they also have limited participation in child care programs, according to NBC News. Parents can, however, make up for this by interacting with their kids in any language and incorporating numbers in anything they do. Allowing the kids to attend a one-day kindergarten session will also help improve their math skills early in life.

Nearly a quarter of the total number of children in the United States are Latinos, as per a separate Child Trends report. There is a need to worry about the issue that white kindergarten students have a three-month head start in math skills compared to Latino kindergarten students. The widening gap is expected to increase in the next years unless intervention programs are implemented.

Experts said playing catch-up will not help solve the problem of the widening gap in education, according to Dallas News. The only way to see results is to increase early childhood education access among minority groups like the Latinos.