Using Open-Ended Interviews to Determine Why Puerto Rican Students Drop Out of School

Latino youth account for 10% of all elementary and secondary school students and are among the most undereducated in the United States (Perez, 1993). Many low socioeconomic status (SES) Latino youths are dropping out of high school. There are few contemporary studies on this dilemma. Based on students' opinions and perceptions, this article examines why one subgroup of the Latino population, Puerto Ricans, is not graduating from high school.