Immigrant Children Keep Academic Pace with Peers
From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:
Far from being a burden on the educational system, research from Florida State University shows immigrant children perform as well or better than their same-race, American-born counterparts.
FSU Sociology Professor Kathryn Harker Tillman found that first- and second- generation children are no more likely than their third-generation peers to have to repeat a grade despite the many social and economic disadvantages they face.
They focused on grade retention rather than more traditional markers of educational performance, such as high school graduation, dropout rates or grades in order to see how immigrant children navigate the educational system, not just the end result.
Tillman found that girls of all generations and backgrounds have the same rate of being held back.
"Our findings run counter to expectations derived from traditional assimilation theory, which posits that outcomes should improve across time and generation spent in the United States," Tillman said.
The results suggest that immigrant children are able to overcome many of the disadvantages that have been found to place children at high risk for grade retention, such as being a racial or ethic minority, having parents with very low levels of education, having low levels of English proficiency and attending schools in urban areas.
Instead, immigrant students succeed while keeping pace with their American-born peers.
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