Generational status, English proficiency, and the opportunity to learn mathematics

The immigrant student population is becoming the major minority student group in the United States, but few studies have examined whether immigrant high school students receive equal opportunities to learn mathematics. This study applies the opportunity to learn (OTL) framework to investigate immigrant high school students' opportunity to learn mathematics. This study measures immigrant high school students' OTL in terms of their odds of being assigned to the academic mathematics course track and to highly qualified mathematics teachers, as well as of their mathematics achievement.;The data set for this study was extracted from the first two waves of Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS:2002) and multiple imputation method was applied to calculate missing values for all variables. A series of multivariate models were developed for each of the three research questions.;Findings show that immigrant high school sophomores receive unequal opportunities to learn mathematics after controlling for their race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status (SES), family composition, grade retention history, school location, school type, and school SES. First generation immigrant sophomores have significantly lower mathematics test scores than their native peers. Sophomores with limited English proficiency (LEP) are significantly less likely to be placed into the college-bound mathematics course track and be assigned to highly qualified mathematics teachers. LEP status is also significantly and negatively associated with immigrant high school sophomores' mathematics test scores and this negative effect increases when LEP students are placed in an English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) program or the non-academic mathematics course track. For seniors, however, after controlling for 10th grade mathematics test scores, neither LEP status nor ESL placement history is significantly associated with their mathematics achievement.;Placement in an ESL program is significantly and negatively associated with immigrant high school sophomores' probability both of being placed in the college-bound mathematics course track and of being assigned to highly qualified mathematics teachers. Being placed in an ESL program is also significantly and negatively associated with immigrant high school sophomores' mathematics achievement. LEP high school sophomores who were ever placed in an ESL program score significantly lower than do their LEP peers who were never placed in an ESL program. For high school sophomores who are placed in the non-academic mathematics course track, being placed in an ESL program also make them score significantly lower compared with those who were never placed in an ESL program. After controlling for 10th grade mathematics achievement, both negative interactive effects of ESL placement (with LEP and with nonacademic tracks) disappear for seniors.