St. Joseph Community Partnership Fund

9 Educational inequities threaten the region's future While educational outcomes have improved since 2000, there are still large disparities in educational attainment by race/ethnicity and nativity. These educational gaps can make workers less prepared for the future economy. Orange County ranks high (27 th ) among the 150 largest regions in terms of the share of residents with an associate's degree or higher, but Latinos, Native Americans, Pacific Islanders, and African Americans are much less likely than whites to have this level of education. At the same time, the county ranks even higher (19 th ) in terms of the share of residents who lack a high school diploma. Latino immigrants are the most likely to have less than a high school diploma, followed by U.S.-born Latinos and Asian immigrants. There is a wide educational gap among Asian immigrants. For example, 11 percent of Asian immigrants lack a high school diploma, a rate similar to U.S.-born Latinos and the second highest among racial groups. However, at the same time, Asian immigrants have one of the highest percentages of those with a bachelor's degree or higher. Looking at disaggregated Asian American data by ethnicity show disparities within the racial group. About 88 percent of Taiwanese immigrants ages 25 to 64 have an associate's degree or higher compared to 39 percent of immigrants from Vietnam and 40 percent of those from Cambodia. Although there has been an overall decrease in the number of disconnected youth (16- to 24-year-olds who are neither in school nor working), the number remains high. Of the region's 37,000 disconnected youth, 55 percent are Latino, 28 percent are white, 3 percent are Black, and 11 percent are API. Since 2000, the number of disconnected youth has decreased slightly. This is due to improvements among Latino youth (from 68 percent to 55 percent of all disconnected youth); all other groups have seen slight increases. Data on children also illustrate racial disparities. For example, early childhood development indicators show that not all children in Orange County are ready for kindergarten. Latino children were more likely to be evaluated as being vulnerable or at risk than their peers in all other racial groups across five early childhood development indicator categories (physical health and well-being, social competence, emotional maturity, language and cognitive development, and communication skills and general knowledge). In addition, the Child Opportunity Index, which measures relative opportunity across neighborhoods in the region based on three categories of indicators (educational opportunity, health and environmental opportunity, and social and economic opportunity), shows that more racially diverse portions of the county have fewer opportunities for children. Source: Integrated Public Use Microdata Series. Universe includes all persons ages 25 through 64. Note: Data represent a 2012 through 2016 average. In order to obtain more robust estimates of the Pacific Islander population the estimate includes all those who identified as Pacific Islander. There are wide racial/ethnic gaps in educational attainment Educational Attainment by Race/Ethnicity and Nativity, 2016 Bachelor's degree or higher Associate's degree Some college High school diploma Less than high school diploma 3% 6% 11% 53% 2% 11% 8% 8% 6% 14% 17% 26% 22% 7% 13% 22% 18% 11% 25% 29% 29% 13% 14% 14% 35% 33% 24% 9% 10% 10% 3% 7% 8% 10% 10% 10% 49% 38% 24% 9% 60% 52% 25% 31% 50% White Black Latino, U.S.- born Latino, immigrant Asian, U.S.- born Asian, immigrant Native American Pacific Islander Mixed/other

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