Immigrants’ Aspirations, High School Process, and Academic Outcomes

Abstract

Previous research on the high school achievement of Mexican Americans has documented substantial under achievement. However, recent immigrants appear to be achieving at a somewhat higher level. In a longitudinal study, we examined the school experience of talented immigrant students to identify the behavioral process by which they became successful. We found that family educational values had an important effect on achievement when these values translated into participation in a math/science enrichment program, which led to substantial gains on related ACT subtests. We also found that scores on ACT-Natural Sciences were strongly related to length of U. S. residence. Length of residence affected reading skills, and poor readers took fewer advanced science courses. The significance of “extra learning” to underachievers is discussed. We concluded that, although immigrant students achieved below their native-born counterparts prior to high school, their strategies for increasing learning during high school enabled them to perform better on standardized achievement tests, though not on grade point average.