Center for Latino Policy Research

Latinos are the fastest growing racial ethnic group in the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area and now constitute 21 percent of the total population. Their representation among K-12 public school enrollment is even higher at 30 percent. Despite this, few studies have examined how well the Bay Area is preparing this group of students for entry into the state’s public four year colleges. This research brief explores college preparation in each of the nine counties that consist of the Bay Area and finds that Latinos trail behind non-Latinos in two major indicators of college preparation (completing the A-G course requirements and taking the SAT as high school seniors).