| Gayle Christensen
Stanford University
What matters for immigrant achievement cross-nationally? A structural equation model comparing immigrant and non-immigrant student achievement
FINAL REPORT:
In the past two decades, North American, European and Pacific countries have experienced record levels of immigration, yet researchers have conducted very few comparative studies to provide policymakers with a clear understanding of the important influences of immigrant achievement. However, research has shown that immigrant student achievement on international tests lags behind that of native students in a substantial number of countries even when controlling for other background characteristics The study seeks to provide a more comprehensive understanding of factors affecting immigrant success among seventeen immigrant receiving countries by estimating how school context and instructional variables are related to differences in foreign-born student achievement, as well as the relative importance of individual and school variables. This goal is achieved by using data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
This study employs quantitative analytic techniques, including regression and hierarchical linear modeling to examine key policy-related questions: (1) Does immigrant status have a separate effect on student achievement after accounting for socioeconomic status and how do these two factors appear to relate across countries? (2) Do students in different immigrant status groups get tracked into schools with different contexts and quality and quantity of instruction and what are the implications for immigrant student achievement? These two research questions serve as the guide for the development of the quantitative results into taxonomy of immigrant student achievement in the seventeen case countries. Finally, I employ additional data from Germany and the United States for a more in depth exploration of immigrant student achievement in these two countries. First, I investigate the role of country of origin and race for immigrant student achievement. I find that there are significant differences in reading and math achievement among different immigrant groups. I also use additional school data to control for tracking between schools (in Germany) and within schools (in the United States). I also find that these controls are important for understanding the relationships between immigrant status, socioeconomic status and student achievement.
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