This study provides the first national-level assessment of the size and academic performance of immigrant students with interrupted schooling. Exploiting unique aspects of the Educational Longitudinal Study (2002), a national-level survey of U.S. 10th graders, this study identifies students with interrupted schooling and uses multivariate analysis to assess their academic performance compared to other immigrants and nonimmigrants. Results indicate that over 10% of foreign-born youth experience interrupted schooling. These students have lower academic achievement and attainment than their peers, but are just as or more engaged in school. Premigration demographics, but not postmigration family and school characteristics, explain some of these academic performance differences and the consequences of interrupted schooling differ for primary- and secondary-grade-age arrivals.
Advocates for Children of New York. (2010). Students with interrupted formal education: A challenge for the New York City Public Schools. Retrieved from http://www.advocatesforchildren.org/
2.
ArensonK. W. (2000, March12). Scaling the barriers of literacy and language. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com
3.
BartlettL. (2008). Bilingual literacies, social identification, and educational trajectories. Linguistics and Education, 18(3), 215–231.
4.
BozickR.MalchiodiA.MillerT. (2016). Pre-migration school quality, time spent in the United States, and the math achievement of immigrant high school students. Demography, 53(5), 1477–1498.
5.
BradleyC. L.RenzulliL. A. (2011). The complexity of non-completion: Being pushed or pulled to drop out of high school. Social Forces, 90(2), 521–545.
6.
BrowderC. T. (2014). English learners with limited or interrupted formal education: Risk and resilience in educational outcomes (Doctoral diss.). Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Gradworks (3637307).
7.
BunchG. C. (2013). Pedagogical language knowledge: Preparing mainstream teachers for English learners in the new standards era. Review of Research in Education, 37(1), 298–341.
8.
CallahanR. M. (2005). Tracking and high school English learners: Limiting opportunity to learn. American Educational Research Journal, 42(2), 305–328.
9.
CongerD. (2009). Testing, time limits, and English learners: Does age of school entry affect how quickly students can learn English?Social Science Research, 38(2), 383–396.
10.
CrosnoeR.TurleyR. (2011). K-12 educational outcomes of immigrant youth. The Future of Children, 21(1), 129–152.
11.
CumminsJ. (1979). Linguistic interdependence and the educational development of bilingual children. Review of Educational Research, 49(2), 222–251.
12.
CumminsJ. (2000). Putting language proficiency in its place: Responding to critiques of the conversational/academic language distinction. In English in Europe: The acquisition of a third language (pp. 54–83). Retrieved from http://iteachilearn.org/cummins/converacademlangdisti.html
13.
CustodioB. (2011). How to design and implement a newcomer program. Boston, MA: Pearson.
14.
DeCapuaA.MarshallH.W. (2010). Serving ELLs with limited or interrupted education: Intervention that works. TESOL Journal, 1(1), 49–70.
15.
DeCapuaA.SmathersW.TangF. (2009). Students with limited or interrupted schooling: A guide for educators. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
16.
FallA.RobertsG. (2012). High school dropouts: Interactions between social context, self-perceptions, school engagement, and student dropout. Journal of Adolescence, 35(4), 787–798.
17.
FaltisC.CoulterC. (2008). Teaching English learners and immigrant students in secondary schools. Columbus, OH: Pearson.
18.
FaltisC.ValdésG. (2016). Preparing teachers to teach in and advocate for linguistically diverse classrooms: A vade mecum for teacher educators of theHandbook of research on teaching. In GitomerD. H.BellC. A. (Eds.), Handbook of research on teaching (5th ed.). Washington, DC: SAGE/American Educational Research Association.
19.
FelicianoC. (2005). Educational selectivity in US immigration: How do immigrants compare to those left behind?Demography, 42(1), 131–152.
20.
FelicianoC. (2006). Beyond the family: The influence of premigration group status on the educational expectations of immigrants’ children. Sociology of Education, 79(4), 281–303.
21.
FleischmanH. L.HopstockP. J. (1993). Descriptive study of services to limited English proficient students. Arlington, VA: Development Associates.
22.
FreemanY. S.FreemanD. E.MercuriS. (2002). Closing the achievement gap: How to reach limited-formal-schooling and long-term English learners. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
23.
FryR. (2005). The higher dropout rate of foreign-born teens: The role of schooling abroad. Washington, DC: Pew Hispanic Center.
24.
GándaraP.RumbergerR. (2009). Immigration, language, and education: How does language policy structure opportunity?Teachers College Record, 111(3), 750–782.
25.
GarciaO. (1999). Educating Latino high school students with little formal schooling. In FaltisC. J.WolfeP. (Eds.), So much to say: Adolescents, bilingualism, and ESL in the secondary school (pp. 61–82). New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
26.
Garcia-CollC.MarksA. (Eds.). (2012). The immigrant paradox in children and adolescents: Is becoming American a developmental risk?Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
27.
GindlingT. H.PoggioS. Z. (2010). The effect of family separation and reunification on the educational success of immigrant children in the United States. Baltimore: University of Maryland Baltimore County Press.
28.
GlickJ. E. (2010). Connecting complex processes: A decade of research on immigrant families. Journal of Marriage and Family, 72(3), 498–515.
29.
GlickJ. E.WhiteM. J. (2003). The academic trajectories of immigrant youths: Analysis within and across cohorts. Demography, 40(4), 759–783.
30.
GlickJ. E.YabikuS. T. (2016). Migrant children and migrants’ children: Nativity differences in school enrollment in Mexico and the United States. Demographic Research, 35, 201.
31.
GrahamJ. W. (2009). Missing data analysis: Making it work in the real world. Annual Review of Psychology, 60, 549–576.
32.
JohnsonM. K.CrosnoeR.ElderG. H. (2001). Students’ attachment and academic engagement: The role of race and ethnicity. Sociology of Education, 74(4), 318–340.
33.
KannoY.CromleyJ. G. (2013). English language learners’ access to and attainment in postsecondary education. TESOL Quarterly, 47(1), 89–121.
34.
KaoG.TiendaM. (1995). Optimism and achievement: The educational performance of immigrant youth. Social Science Quarterly, 76(1), 1–19.
35.
LeeK. J.CarlinJ. B. (2010). Multiple imputation for missing data: fully conditional specification versus multivariate normal imputation. American Journal of Epidemiology, 171(5), 624–632.
36.
LeeS. J. (1996). Unraveling the “model minority” stereotype: Listening to Asian American youth. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
37.
LevelsM.DronkersJ.KraaykampG. (2008). Immigrant children’s educational achievement in Western countries: Origin, destination, and community effects on mathematical performance. American Sociological Review, 73(5), 835–853.
38.
Los Angeles Unified School District. (2012). Grade placement chart. Los Angeles, CA: Author. Retrieved from: http://home.lausd.net/
39.
LukesM. (2015). Latino immigrant youth and interrupted schooling: Dropouts, dreamers and alternative pathways to college. Tonawanda, NY: Multilingual Matters.
MacSwanJ. (2000). The threshold hypothesis, semilingualism, and other contributions to a deficit view of linguistic minorities. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 22(1), 3–45.
42.
McDonnellL. M.HillP. T. (1993). Newcomers in American schools: Meeting the educational needs of immigrant youth. Westport, CT: Rand.
43.
MenkenK. (2013). Emergent bilingual students in secondary school: Along the academic language and literacy continuum. Language Teaching, 46(4), 438–476.
44.
MurrayJ.BatalovaJ.FixM. (2007). Educating the children of immigrants. In FixM. (Ed.), Securing the future: US immigrant integration policy (pp. 125–152). Washington, DC: Migration Policy Institute.
45.
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2017). Promoting the educational success of children and youth learning English: Promising futures. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
46.
New York State Department of Education. (2009). Diverse learners on the road to success: The performance of New York City’s English language learners. New York, NY: Office of English Language Learners.
47.
NgoB.LeeS. J. (2007). Complicating the image of model minority success: A review of Southeast Asian American education. Review of Educational Research, 77(4), 415–453.
48.
OropesaR. S.LandaleN. (2009). Why do immigrant youths who never enroll in U.S. schools matter? School enrollment among Mexicans and non-Hispanic Whites. Sociology of Education, 82(240), 240–266.
49.
PadillaA. M.GonzalezR. (2001). Academic performance of immigrant and U.S.-born Mexican heritage students: Effects of schooling in Mexico and bilingual/English language instruction. American Educational Research Journal, 38, 727–742.
50.
PasselJ. S. (2011). Demography of immigrant youth: Past, present, and future. The Future of Children, 21(1), 19–41.
51.
PerreiraK. M.HarrisK. MLeeD. (2006). Making it in America: High school completion by immigrant and native youth. Demography, 43(3), 511–536.
52.
PoggioS. Z.GindlingT. H. (2010). Promoting the educational success of Latin American immigrant children separated from parents during migration. In EpsteinG. S.GangI. N. (Eds.), Migration and culture (pp. 517–541). Chapel Hill, NC: Emerald Group.
53.
PongS. L.LandaleN. S. (2012). Academic achievement of legal immigrants’ children: The roles of parents’ pre-and post-migration characteristics in origin-group differences. Child Development, 83(5), 1543–1559.
54.
PortesA.Fernández-KellyP. (2008). No margin for error: Educational and occupational achievement among disadvantaged children of immigrants. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 620, 12–36.
55.
PortesA.RivasA. (2011). The adaptation of migrant children. The Future of Children, 21(1), 219–246.
56.
PortesA.RumbautR. G. (2001). Legacies: The story of the immigrant second generation. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.
57.
RendallM. S.TorrB. M. (2008). Emigration and schooling among second-generation Mexican-American children. International Migration Review, 42(3), 729–738.
58.
Richardson BrunaK. (2009). “You’re magmatic now”: Language play, linguistic biliteracy, and the science crossing of adolescent Mexican newcomer youth. In Richardson BrunaK.GomezK. (Eds.), The work of language in multicultural classrooms: Talking science, writing science (pp. 167–189). New York, NY: Routledge.
59.
Ruiz-de-VelascoJ.FixM. (2000). Overlooked and underserved: Immigrant students in U.S. secondary schools. Washington, DC: Urban Institute.
60.
RumbergerR. W.LimS. A. (2008). Why students drop out of school: A review of 25 years of research. Santa Barbara, CA: California Dropout Research Project Report.
61.
SánchezP.Machado-CasasM. (2009). At the intersection of transnationalism, Latina/o immigrants, and education. High School Journal, 92(4), 3–15.
62.
StiefelL.SchwartzA. E.CongerD. (2010). Age of entry and the high school performance of immigrant youth. Journal of Urban Economics, 67, 303–314.
63.
Suárez-OrozcoC. (2001). Afterward: Understanding and serving the children of immigrants. Harvard Educational Review, 71(3), 579–589.
64.
Suárez-OrozcoC.Suárez-OrozcoM. M.TodorovaI. (2009). Learning a new land: Immigrant students in American society. Boston, MA: Harvard University Press.
65.
Suárez-OrozcoM. M.DarbesT.DiasS. I.SutinM. (2011). Migrations and schooling. Annual Review of Anthropology, 40, 311–328.
66.
ThomasW.CollierV. (2002). A national study of school effectiveness for language minority students’ long-term academic achievement. Washington DC: Center for Research on Education, Diversity, and Excellence.
67.
ValdésG. (2001). Learning and not learning English: Latino students in American schools. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
68.
ValenzuelaA. (1999). Subtractive schooling: Issues of caring in education of US-Mexican youth. New York, NY: State University of New York Press.
69.
WassersteinR. L.LazarN. A. (2016). The ASA’s statement on p-values: context, process, and purpose. The American Statistician, 70, 129–33.
WrightW. E.LiX. (2008). High stakes math tests: How No Child Left Behind leaves newcomer English language learners behind. Lang Policy, 7, 237–266.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
