Despite the pervasive and consistent pattern of undereducation for Hispanics and their rapid growth as a proportion of the school population, there is a dearth of appropriate preventive and remedial programs to address their special needs. This report provides an overview of the educational status of Hispanics and notes the implications of the data. It includes sections on each of the following: (1) the history of Hispanics in the United States, (2) demographics, (3) school enrollment, (4) educational conditions, (5) literacy and educational conditions of Hispanic adults, (6) postsecondary education, and (7) composition of the teaching force. The final section of implications for education policy makers emphasizes the importance of the following: (1) programs aimed at early school success; (2) adequately training more bilingual, special education, and gifted and talented teachers; (3) required coursework in multicultural education for all teacher training programs; (4) combating curricular tracking; (5) tutoring at the high school level as well as for younger students; (6) dropout recovery programs and prevention programs that begin before high school; (7) test taking preparation seminars; (8) additional academic attention to Hispanic girls; (9) attention to adult illiteracy, and (10) increased college recruitment, financial assistance, and postsecondary educational efforts. An appendix includes census tables from each state. (LHW)