1: Understanding the Latina/ o Landscape

The leadership necessary to match school services and personnel in relation to the representation of Latinas/os in the United States becomes of importance when understanding the current U.S. demographics. The 2010 Census recognized a significant growth in the Latina/o population over the last decade (Ennis, Rios-Vargas, & Albert, 2011) and acknowledged that this group will soon become the majority. In a recent statistical portrait of Hispanics in the United States, the Pew Research Center (Motel, 2012) reported that 53 million Latina/ os live in the United States. This number represents 17% of the total population or one in eight individuals in the country. The Latina/o population has almost doubled in the past decade.