Under the scorching sun, Heriberto Nogales waters Japanese Maple saplings on a rented half-acre lot just off the Tualatin Valley Highway.

Public school teachers are beginning the school year with a keen understanding of how well or poorly their students performed on standardized tests taken last spring—and the enormous challenge ahead to meet ever-tougher federal goals.

The U.S. Hispanic online audience climbed 50 percent faster than the overall Hispanic population in the past year, according to a new study by comScore, a global Internet information provider. The online Hispanic audience in February hit 20.3 million, up 6 percent from a year ago. It now accounts for 11 percent of the total U.S. online market.

The status dropout rate represents the percentage of 16- through 24-year-olds who are not enrolled in school and have not earned a high school credential (either a diploma or equivalency credential, such as a General Educational Development [GED] certificate).

The Hispanic population in the United States is growing rapidly and will soon become the largest minority group, surpassing the Black population by 2005.

Generalities about "minority students" can easily hide specific issues related to various ethnic and racial groups -- and the ways they do and do not advance in the American educational systems.

WASHINGTON — Roughly one-fourth of the nation's kindergartners are Hispanic, evidence of an accelerating trend that now will see minority children become the majority by 2023.

In perhaps what has been the most comprehensive studies conducted on school dropouts in the nation, the Center for Labor Markets Studies (CLMS) has published a report featuring demographic data from the 12 most populous states.