Abstract
BackgroundImmigrants and their children are the fastest-growing demographic group in the United States, and schools are often the first social institution young immigrants engage with on a sustained basis. As such, the academic achievement of immigrant students can be viewed as an indicator of their incorporation and a predictor of educational and employment outcomes in adulthood. In this study, we examined the factors associated with differences in mathematics achievement between first, second, and third-plus generation students in the US.MethodsWe analyzed the data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2012. Our analytic sample included 3700 15 year-old students attending US public and private schools. We used information on students’ background and school characteristics from the student and school questionnaires. We used multiple linear regression models to predict mathematics achievement. To address the sampling design of PISA and the use of plausible values we fitted the models using the IDB Analyzer.ResultsOur analysis shows that the families and schools of second-generation students are more similar to their first-generation than their third-plus generation peers. Once we control for student background characteristics and school contextual factors, the achievement gap between first-generation students and their second and third-plus generation peers disappears. Our results suggest that what we observed as generational differences in achievement are more likely to be gender, racial, and socioeconomic gaps.ConclusionsOur findings imply that student background and school contextual factors counteract some of the disadvantages that first-generation students face in the US. Our results also support existing evidence about the second-generation advantage in academic achievement. Taken together, these findings suggest that mathematics achievement can be addressed by policies and practices that support all students alongside policies and practices that target immigrant students.
Highlights
Immigrants and their children are one of the fastest-growing demographic groups in the US, comprising 26% of the US population in 2015 (Pew Research Center 2015)
In the section below we review the research on the school achievement of earlier cohorts of immigrant students, which provides an important backdrop for our analysis of Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)
Our findings suggested that school contextual factors moderate the effects of immigrant status on achievement
Summary
Immigrants and their children are one of the fastest-growing demographic groups in the US, comprising 26% of the US population in 2015 (Pew Research Center 2015). There is considerable variation in outcomes among immigrant groups of both generations that are associated with race/ethnicity and family background, as well as the characteristics of immigrant destinations. These differences in outcomes suggests that the patterns of immigrant incorporation into US socioeconomic institutions are segmented (Duong et al 2016; Pew Research Center 2015; Portes and Zhou 1993; Tran and Valdez 2017; White and Glick 2009). Immigrants and their children are the fastest-growing demographic group in the United States, and schools are often the first social institution young immigrants engage with on a sustained basis. We examined the factors associated with differences in mathematics achievement between first, second, and third-plus generation students in the US
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