Contributions to variations in academic trajectories amongst recent immigrant youth

Abstract

Immigration presents both challenges and opportunities that affect students’ academic achievement. Over the course of five years, varying academic trajectories were identified for recent immigrant students from Central America, China, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Mexico. Latent class growth curve analysis revealed that although some students performed at high or improving levels over time, others showed diminishing performance. Multinomial logistic regressions identified significant group differences in academic trajectories, particularly between the high-achieving youth and the other groups. Consistent with ecological systems theory, school characteristics (a: school segregation rate; b: school poverty rate; and c: student perceptions of school violence), family characteristics (a-separation from mother and father; b-maternal education; and c-paternal employment), and individual characteristics (a-academic English proficiency; b-academic engagement; c-psychological symptoms; d-gender) were associated with different trajectories of academic performance.

Mexican-origin adolescents' educational expectation trajectories: Intersection of nativity, sex, and socioeconomic status

“…Supporting such qualitative research, trajectories of ethnically diverse adolescents living in the U.S. suggest that girls report higher educational expectations in early adolescence and a slower decline in late adolescence as compared to boys (Mello, 2008). Another related body of research, focused on recent Hispanic and Asian immigrants, notes that adolescent girls, as compared to boys, report higher GPAs (Hagelskamp, Suarez-Orozco, & Hughes, 2010) and more stable trajectories of educational performance (i.e., GPA; Suarez-Orozco, Bang, & Onaga, 2010). Sex differences for Mexican-origin adolescents' educational expectations trajectories have been scarcely explored, though the results of previous qualitative (Qin-Hilliard) and quantitative (Mello; Suarez-Orozco et al) studies guide our hypothesis that Mexican-origin girls will show higher and more stable educational expectations as compared to boys.…”

“…For example, prior research suggests that Mexican immigrant parents uphold more traditional gender role attitudes, as compared to later-generation parents, and, as a result, give sons more freedom than daughters (Leaper & Valin, 1996; Rafaelli & Ontai, 2004). This gendered pattern has been offered as a reason why girls outperform boys in academic achievement (Qin-Hilliard, 2003; Suarez-Orozco et al, 2010). However, immigrant parents' more traditional attitudes also have been linked to girls' increased pressure to remain close to the family after high school graduation (Sy & Romero, 2008).…”

Migration: Cultural Aspects

“…For those families who were separated, 28% had separations from fathers that lasted more than 4 years. Notably, the LISA study found that immigrant youth who underwent protracted family separations and complicated reunifications were at higher risk to show a pattern of declining academic achievement over time once they resettled in the new country (Suárez-Orozco et al, 2010a).…”

Practices and Approaches of Out-of-School Time Programs Serving Immigrant and Refugee Youth

“…Some school-based recommendations to support immigrant and refugee students are: hiring bilingual teachers, which can provide benefits to both English language learners and native English speakers (Hernandez, Denton, Macartney, & Blanchard, 2012), recognizing the challenges immigrant and refugee students and their families face (Suárez-Orozco, Bang, & Onaga, 2010), and enhancing teacher training to identify and support the needs of diverse immigrant and refugee students and families (Takanishi, 2004).…”