The Career Development Quarterly September฀2012฀•฀Volume฀60฀ ฀231 © 2012 by the National Career Development Association. All rights reserved. Received 01/27/11 Revised 05/20/11 Accepted 05/25/11 Using Gottfredson’s Theory of Circumscription and Compromise to Improve Latino Students’ School Success Nathaniel N. Ivers, Amy Milsom, and Deborah W. Newsome Academic success among Latino youth is low relative to other racial/ethnic groups in the United States. It is important that school counselors recognize factors that influence school success among Latino youth and develop strategies to assist those students in reaching their potential. The authors discuss Gottfredson’s theory of circumscription and compromise as a framework by which school counselors can conceptualize school failure among Latino youth and devise developmental, con- textual, and culturally sensitive interventions to improve Latino students’ academic and career success. They present a case study to illustrate ideas and discuss specific implications for school counselors and possibilities for future research. The Latino population in the United States grew from approximately 35.3 million in 2000 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2000) to nearly 50.5 mil- lion in 2010 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010). This accelerated growth has made the Latino population the largest ethnic minority group in the United States. Moreover, the Latino population is projected to continue its rapid growth to approximately 110 million by the year 2050 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010). With such a significant population increase, it is not surprising that schools in recent years have experienced an influx of Latino students. According to the National Center for Education Sta- tistics (NCES; 2010), from 2000 to 2008, the percentage of Latinos in elementary and secondary schools increased from 17% to 21%. To clarify, the U.S. Census Bureau data reflect individuals from Spanish and Latin American descent, and we will use the term Latino throughout this article in reference to this diverse population. Latino students’ academic success has been low relative to other ra- cial/ethnic groups. An analysis of high school dropout rates by NCES (2010) revealed that, in 2007, the status dropout rate (“percentage of civilian, noninstitutionalized 16- to 24-year-olds who are not in high school and who have not earned a high school credential”) for Latino Nathaniel N. Ivers, Department of Counseling, University of Texas at San An- tonio; Amy Milsom, Department of Leadership, Counselor Education, Human and Organizational Development, Clemson University; Deborah W. Newsome, Department of Counseling, Wake Forest University. Nathaniel N. Ivers is now at Department of Counseling, Wake Forest University. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Nathaniel N. Ivers, Department of Counsel- ing, Wake Forest University, PO Box 7406, Winston-Salem, NC 27109 (e-mail: iversnn@wfu.edu).