Graduating ASAP, if Not on State Timeline

Virginia's numbers showed that Latino students in the Class of 2008 were less likely than others to graduate on time. Their rate of 70 percent was lower than the rate for all other racial and ethnic groups and 23 percentage points behind the top-performing group, students of Asian descent. The discrepancy is wider at some Northern Virginia high schools, including Arlington's Wakefield High. The graduation rate there was 47 percent for Hispanic students, 69 percent for blacks, 77 percent for Asians and 86 percent for whites.

Arlington administrators say Wakefield's numbers reflect the many students from that school's zone who move to Arlington Mill. At the alternative school, where about 85 percent of students are Hispanic, it is easy to find students who have dropped out several times before coming back. Others, mostly recent immigrants, didn't enroll until adulthood, working for several years before deciding to get a diploma. In Lara's art class, he is one of at least four Latino students who were part of the freshman class of 2004 and who, as seniors, fell short by a few credits.

"It may take a little longer, but they get there," Arlington Mill Principal Barbara Thompson said. "The final outcome is much more important than the snapshot in time the data provides."

Maryland will not release the newly formulated rates until 2011, but schools are seeing many students who will graduate -- just not in four years.

Diana Anaya, who is on the honor roll at Wheaton High School in Montgomery County, was supposed to have graduated last year. But, she said, she and her younger sister live alone and must work to pay rent, buy food and, when they can, send money to their family in El Salvador. On a typical day, Anaya works cleaning a library until midnight and then is at school before 7:30 a.m.

"My goal was to study here and get a degree from here, so I am working hard," the 19-year-old said. Still, it is difficult sometimes when she notices how different her life is from those of other students. "Sometimes, I wish to be in their place, to not have so much responsibility and to get more time to be successful in school."

At her school, where more than half of the students are Latino, she is far from alone. Principal Kevin Lowndes said he has seen an increase in requests for half-day schedules from students who have to work.

Remy Lopez, 20, is another fifth-year senior at the school who is supporting himself. Most days, he said, he barely has time to change for work after school, let alone study. Still, he added, he knows he has to graduate. He has a 13-year-old sister in Guatemala who is counting on it.

"Right now, I'm her superhero," Lopez said.

Emma Violand-Sanchez, who last week became the first Latina elected to the Arlington School Board, said she knows such stories well. She recently met a 17-year-old who had been living and working in the county since he was 13 but hadn't gone to school. She helped him enroll, she said, only to see him withdraw at 18, then return to take evening classes. "Not only did he have to support himself, he had to support family in Guatemala," Violand-Sanchez said. "But I don't think that's the only reason students aren't graduating."

Instead, she said, the on-time graduation rates highlight a crisis educators must address.

"We need to have a plan," Violand-Sanchez said. "We need to get involved in this."