A study of academic performance by immigrant generation with an emphasis on the black immigrant experience

Abstract

Purpose– Instead of identifying them as a single monolithic group, the purpose of this paper is to evaluate whether the academic performance of black immigrants differs from African Americans as well as Asian and Hispanic students of comparable immigrant generation. By identifying how well black immigrant students perform on standardized tests, grade point averages (GPA) and college enrollment, this study proposes a more comprehensive look into this growing immigrant group.Design/methodology/approach– The research uses a data from the Educational Longitudinal Survey of high school sophomores conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics. Data used in this study are from the baseline survey in 2002 and the second follow-up in 2006 when most students had graduated from high school. The methodology includes OLS, binary and ordered logistic regression models.Findings– The study finds that while second-generation blacks outperform the native-born generation on standardized tests, this does not extend to GPA or college enrollment. In fact, it appears that only second-generation Hispanic students have an advantage over their native-born counterparts on GPA and standardized tests. Furthermore, first and second-generation Asian immigrants do not show a higher likelihood of enrolling in college than their native-born counterparts nor do they report higher GPA.Originality/value– This paper sheds light on a growing yet understudied immigrant population as well as drawing comparisons to other immigrant groups of comparable generation.