| This study examines the educational achievement of immigrant children during elementary school using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study -- Kindergarten cohort of 1998-1999 (ECLS-K). I examine patterns of fifth-grade achievement in reading, mathematics, and science, as well as achievement growth rates in reading and math from first through fifth grade. The English skills of immigrants are fundamental to curriculum comprehension, student achievement, teacher ratings, and social integration in school, so in the interest of determining predictors of English acquisition, I also estimate the relationships between English ability measured at the start of kindergarten and demographic characteristics, including ethnicity, immigrant generation status, geographic residence, and family background. Finally, drawing on the theoretical framework of "segmented assimilation" for explaining immigrant adaptation, I examine whether immigrant students' achievement demonstrates evidence of "immigrant optimism" (Kao and Tienda 1995; Ogbu 1991). I do so by estimating the relationship between generation status and achievement, controlling for correlates of duration of time in the United States, in particular, socioeconomic status and English ability. I compare the achievement of first generation (born abroad), second generation (born in the U.S. to parents born abroad), and third-or-higher generation students.;Kindergarten English oral language skills are measured using the Oral Language Development Scale, an assessment specifically designed to measure the English proficiency of second-language English learners. It was administered to all language-minority students in the sample, and thus a sizeable number of immigrant students. Immigrant optimism is measured using a scale of parents' educational expectations for their children and teacher ratings of students' learning-related behaviors.;'Segmented' adaptation theoretical frameworks propose that factors besides time spent in the United States are more proximal to educational outcomes, and accordingly, I find that first and second generation students demonstrate higher achievement than third-or-higher generation students but only when such factors are controlled. In particular, I find that early English oral language ability is directly related to achievement in reading, math, and science. It mediates the relationship between generation status and fifth-grade achievement, controlling for ethnicity and family background characteristics. Linear growth models demonstrate that first generation students have higher growth rates in reading, while second generation students have higher growth rates in math than third-or-higher generation students. Further, first and second generation students score higher on the immigrant optimism scale than third-or-higher generation students. Differential achievement among ethnic groups are also evident even when controlling for generation status and its correlates. I suggest that these findings provide strong support for both the segmented assimilation and the "immigrant optimism" hypotheses. |
