Parent involvement in school and Chinese American children's academic skills

The authors examined the concurrent associations of school-based parent involvement (PI), family sociocultural factors, and children's academic skills in a sample of 258 Chinese American children (5–9 years old) in immigrant families. Parents reported their American and Chinese orientations and family socioeconomic status (SES). Parents and teachers rated parents' school-based involvement, and children's English reading and mathematics calculation skills were assessed with standardized tests. Results of path analysis indicated that, controlling for SES, parents' American orientation was positively associated with their self-reported PI. Although parent- and teacher-reported PI were positively correlated with each other, only teacher-reported PI was positively associated with children's English reading. These findings support the benefits of school-based PI for Chinese immigrant children's English reading achievement. Results also highlight the need to consider differences between teachers' and parents' perceptions of PI in developing culturally sensitive interventions to encourage immigrant parents' school involvement.     

ISSUES IN COUNSELING IMMIGRANT COLLEGE STUDENTS

The immigrant population of urban community colleges has grown in recent years, creating new challenges for college counselors. Counseling intervention is essential to enable immigrant students to cope with the stresses of immigration and the effects of those stresses on their college performance. Acculturation is a process that changes with time and that affects students of different ages differently. Cultural variations among immigrants affect social and academic performance in college as well. Developing English language fluency both accompanies and is accompanied by other adjustment issues. College counselors can facilitate both student' adjustment and the college's recognition of immigrant students' cultural perspective.     

Pre-kindergarten child care and behavioral outcomes among children of immigrants

The school transition model suggests that children's transitions into formal schooling can have lasting and profound implications for their educational careers, though this model is rarely used to understand the outcomes of children of immigrants. Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K), a nationally representative sample of kindergarteners in 1998–1999, we examine the pre-kindergarten child care arrangements of children of immigrants and how these care arrangements are associated with children's behavior. We find that minority and immigrant children are less likely than their native-born white counterparts to be enrolled in center-based care and other care, compared to parental care, prior to kindergarten. We also find that ethnic origin is an important predictor of child care usage. Finally, though center-based care, on average, is not independently associated with children's behavior in kindergarten, the association between center-based care and behaviors varies by race and immigrant status. Broadly, these findings underscore the importance of understanding how native- and foreign-born children experience the transition to schooling, a critical period in the life course.     

The Roles of Intuition and Informants’ Expertise in Children's Epistemic Trust

This study examined how children's intuitions and informants’ expertise influence children's trust in informants’ claims. Three‐ to 8‐year‐olds (N = 192) watched videos in which experts (animal/biology experts or artifact/physics experts) made either intuitively plausible or counterintuitive claims about obscure animals or artifacts. Claims fell either within or beyond experts’ domains of expertise. Children of all ages were more trusting of claims made by informants with relevant, as opposed to irrelevant, expertise. Children also showed greater acceptance of intuitive rather than counterintuitive claims, a differentiation that increased with age as they developed firmer intuitions about what can ordinarily happen. In summary, children's trust in testimony depends on whether informants have the relevant expertise as well as on children's own developing intuitions.     

The immigrant paradox and math self-concept: An SES-of-origin-country hypothesis

The immigrant paradox is the phenomenon where recent immigrants have better outcomes than individuals from native-born families. Although limited past research has shown the paradox to exist for math self-concept, neither its exact nature nor a theoretical explanation for its existence have been reported. Using Australian cohort data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2003 (N = 12,551) and 2012 (N = 14,481), we first establish that immigrant students have higher math self-concepts than native students, controlling for gender and absolute parental socioeconomic status (SES), and show that it is similar to—albeit weaker than—the expectation-achievement gap. We then provide an SES-of-origin-country hypothesis as a contextual explanation for this effect; we show that the immigrant paradox for both math self-concept and educational expectations substantially reduces when accounting for parents' SES relative to their country-of-origin. Our findings suggest that the paradox for math self-concept and educational expectations may partly result from immigrant parents’ socioeconomic advantage in their home countries.     

Parental involvement,children's aspirations,and achievement in new immigrant families

The authors investigated the relationships among multiple aspects of parental involvement (English proficiency, school involvement, control and monitoring of children), children's aspirations, and achievement in new immigrant families in the United States. They used data on immigrant parents and school-age children (N = 1,255) from the New Immigrant Survey to examine immigrant families from diverse backgrounds. Structural equation modeling analyses revealed that parental English proficiency and involvement in school education are related to children's academic achievement, cognitive development, and English language ability, directly as well as indirectly, through children's educational aspirations. Parental control and monitoring is not beneficial to immigrant children's cognitive development, although variations were found across different groups. They also observed intriguing findings regarding gender and racial or ethnic diversity. Based on their findings, they provide recommendations for the fostering of academic success and the design and implementation of educational programs and practices for immigrant children.     

Revisiting Young Children's Understanding of the Psychological Causes of Behavior

In 1989, Miller and Aloise challenged the prevailing belief that preschoolers tend to explain others' behavior in terms of external events or a person's physical attributes and have little understanding of psychological causes. That review documented preschoolers' understanding of, and even preference for, psychological causes as part of an emerging renaissance in developmental social‐cognitive research. The present, updated review (97 articles, participant ages 3 months to 6 years) suggests the emergence of a transformative new perspective in which social‐cognition is balanced between social and cognitive aspects rather than tilted toward cognition. Recent research on infants' awareness of mental states, young children's understanding of social categories and their judgments of the trustworthiness of informants, and cultural context reveals various ways in which preschoolers' social‐causal reasoning is social.     

Speech Perception and Production by Sequential Bilingual Children: A Longitudinal Study of Voice Onset Time Acquisition

The majority of bilingual speech research has focused on simultaneous bilinguals. Yet, in immigrant communities, children are often initially exposed to their family language (L1), before becoming gradually immersed in the host country's language (L2). This is typically referred to as sequential bilingualism. Using a longitudinal design, this study explored the perception and production of the English voicing contrast in 55 children (40 Sylheti‐English sequential bilinguals and 15 English monolinguals). Children were tested twice: when they were in nursery (52‐month‐olds) and 1 year later. Sequential bilinguals' perception and production of English plosives were initially driven by their experience with their L1, but after starting school, changed to match that of their monolingual peers.     

Immigrant and nonimmigrant children's social interactions and peer responses in mainstream preschool classrooms

The authors examined the social practices and outcomes of 23 immigrant and 16 nonimmigrant preschoolers in English only preschool classrooms. In both classrooms, the majority of the children (nearly two thirds) were immigrant, English language learners. The children's social attempts, social strategies, speech functions, and degree of social success were observed and comparisons were made between nonimmigrant and immigrant peers. There were similarities between groups in their social engagement and social construction strategies; there were differences in social roles, social language functions, and types of social construction strategies. There also were significant differences in the social success of the two groups. Immigrant children experienced rejection of their social bids more than their preschool peers did. Immigrant children also were less likely to be leaders and seemed positioned in a lower social status among their peers did. These results are discussed along with implications for educational practices.     

Limited English Proficiency and Socioemotional Well-Being Among Asian and Hispanic Children From Immigrant Families

Research Findings: Previous research has suggested that children from immigrant families face multiple stressors associated with acculturation. One component of acculturation that has not been widely explored in relation to children's socioemotional development is limited English proficiency (LEP). Given that English is the main language used in American schools, it is important to understand how LEP can affect the socioemotional development of children from immigrant families whose 1st language is not English. This study explores the effects of LEP on the socioemotional development of 5,268 Hispanic and 2,088 Asian American children from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study data set (first 3 waves of data). Results from generalized estimating equation analyses revealed significant interactions between ethnicity and language status. English-proficient Asian American children fared better than Hispanic children, but Asian American children with LEP lagged behind their Hispanic counterparts in their approaches to learning, self-control, and interpersonal skills at the beginning of kindergarten. These ethnic differences disappeared by the end of 1st grade. Practice or Policy: Our findings suggest that language-related challenges among minority children may be more consequential for young Asian American children, who would benefit from additional efforts to help them attain proficiency in English.     

The Role of Gender in Foreign Language Learning Attitudes: Japanese female students' attitudes towards English learning

Originating from a large-scale questionnaire-based study on Japanese high school students' attitudes towards current and long-term English learning, this study attempts to account for one of the findings, female students' superiority in attitudes to English learning over male students. This study problematises the common practice found in questionnaire-based research ending with the statistical identification of gender differences in attitudes without exploring factors influencing those differences. By utilising multidisciplinary extant data and research findings, this study argues that Japanese social elements, such as the status of English as feminised academic and professional choices and women's marginalised status in Japanese mainstream society, underlie many women's positive attitudes towards English learning. This study provides pedagogical implications for those in charge of English-related programmes either in Japan or in English-speaking countries who deal with a significant number of young Japanese female students in the programmes.     

Life circumstances and public policies for young children in immigrant families

Young children, birth through eight, are more diverse than other age groups in the United States. They are more likely to be first- or second-generation immigrants and, as a consequence, more likely to belong to racial-ethnic groups originating outside European nations. Many also live with parents whose heritage language is not English. For these reasons, children in immigrant families merit special attention by policy-makers, program administrators, and others who have responsibility for assuring that the young children of today become competent students, workers, citizens, and parents in the years ahead. The development of effective policies and programs for all children and families depends on having information about their life circumstances, including their family composition, education, work, income, and housing, and for immigrants, also their country of origin, citizenship, and language skills. This article presents new results from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey for 2005, 2006, and 2007, reflecting important life circumstances of young children in immigrant families, compared to those in native-born families. We present new population projections from the U.S. Census Bureau, which highlight the increasingly important role that children of immigrants will play in the economy and civil society during the coming decades. We then discuss implications for the design and implementation of effective policies and programs.     

Immigrant differences in school-age children's verbal trajectories: a look at four racial/ethnic groups

This study explored inter- and intraindividual immigrant group differences in children's English verbal ability over ages 6-16 in 4 racial/ethnic groups-White Americans, Black Americans, Mexican Americans, and Puerto Ricans (N=2,136). Although all children's mean verbal scores increased with age, immigrant children (except for Black Americans) had lower scores than respective nonimmigrant children. In contrast, immigrant children (except for Mexican Americans) had more persistent verbal growth into adolescence than respective nonimmigrant children. Family resources moderately accounted for immigrant differences in children's mean verbal scores only. The findings support different theoretical models for understanding inter- and intraindividual immigrant differences in achievement. Mexican-American immigrants and Black American nonimmigrants were struggling and merit policy attention.     

Formal versus informal prekindergarten care and school readiness for children in immigrant families: A synthesis review

The U.S. is witnessing two major trends in its rising cohorts of young children preparing to start school: an increase in the utilization of formal (e.g., center-based) childcare options in the year before starting kindergarten and an increase in the share of these young children who come from immigrant families. Given that many children from immigrant families in the U.S. start school at a disadvantage relative to native-born children, researchers, policy makers, and practitioners have inquired into which prekindergarten alternatives might be most effective at boosting school readiness for this group of children. This review covers the effects of formal versus informal prekindergarten alternatives in the year before entering school on a commonly-explored set of child-level academic and socioemotional indictors of school readiness for children in immigrant families in the U.S. In contrast to remaining in informal care, children in immigrant families showed fairly consistent, positive academic and socioemotional effects of attending formal prekindergarten in the year before kindergarten for children in immigrant families. Compared to native-born children in formal care, children from immigrant families in formal care showed some positive, but not as consistent, evidence of closing gaps between these two groups across school readiness indicators. Finally, there are several, noteworthy common limitations in this body of literature, which can be used to shape future research agendas and policy dialogue.     

Dynamics of parent involvement at a multicultural school

This paper describes a research project that uses Pierre Bourdieu's concepts of habitus and cultural and social capital to penetrate how middle‐class parents exercise influence and form positive relationships at the neighbourhood public school that serves various ethno‐cultural groups of students. One group of white, economically privileged students have populated the school since its founding; the others are new, immigrant, and diverse in ethnicity, race, and immigrant status. The parents of the former group of children enjoy active involvement in the school and trusting relationships with teachers that involves their differentiation from and exclusion of the new immigrant group. While the paper affirms the importance of social class differences in parent involvement, it integrates additional dimensions of immigration status and ethnicity.     

Cross‐informant agreement of children's social‐emotional skills: An investigation of ratings by teachers,parents, and students from a nationally representative sample

This study examines the agreement across informant pairs of teachers, parents, and students regarding the students’ social‐emotional learning (SEL) competencies. Two student subsamples representative of the social skills improvement system (SSIS) SEL edition rating forms national standardization sample were examined: first, 168 students (3rd to 12th grades) with ratings by three informants (a teacher, a parent, and the student him/herself) and a second group of 164 students who had ratings by two raters in a similar role—two parents or two teachers. To assess interrater agreements, two methods were employed: calculation of q correlations among pairs of raters and effect size indices to capture the extant rater pairs differed in their assessments of social‐emotional skills. The empirical results indicated that pairs of different types of informants exhibited greater than chance levels of agreement as indexed by significant interrater correlations; teacher–parent informants showed higher correlations than teacher–student or parent–student pairs across all SEL competency domains assessed, and pairs of similar informants exhibited significantly higher correlations than pairs of dissimilar informants. Study limitations are identified and future research needs outlined.     

Preschool teachers and classroom aides: Same context,similar perceptions of children's behaviors?

This study explored the correspondence and differences between school staff perceptions of preschool children's social skills and behavior problems. One hundred preschoolers were assessed by 14 pairs of teachers and classroom aides with the Preschool and Kindergarten Behavior Scales – 2^nd Edition (PKBS‐2 Portuguese version). Indexes of agreement and disagreement were calculated. Risk levels and item analyses of PKBS‐2 scores according to both informants' ratings were compared. A higher level of agreement was obtained for social skills scores than for behavior problems (mean correlation of .62). No statistically significant differences between informants were obtained for the risk levels, and item analyses revealed a similar pattern of behaviors that were most and least rated by both informants. Results indicate that the classroom aides' perspective on preschool assessment represents a reliable input, which justifies that they network with teachers in addressing preschoolers' social‐emotional and behavioral challenges.     

Awkward Practice: Teaching media in English

The Models of Media Education research project in England explored major issues about the aims and methods of media teaching amongst teachers of English. Its central research question was 'What are teachers of English doing when they say they are doing media education at Key Stage 4 (ages 14–16) in secondary schools?' This article begins with a brief contextualisation of the current curriculum for media teaching within English. It then examines, through a detailed case study, the work of one teacher in the classroom and relates this to the wider picture in secondary schools. This is followed by a discussion of the project's general findings. It concludes that the study of media production and institutions is frequently avoided by teachers of English and that teaching methods often repress essential aspects of social learning in relation to the media, privileging limited teacher knowledge over young people's own cultural experience. Finally, it suggests a new focus for research in the future that will encompass these neglected learning areas, teaching methods and new media technologies.     

Educational inclusion/exclusion of Turkish immigrant youth in Vancouver,Canada: a critical analysis

This empirical research analyses an understudied population, Turkish immigrant youths' educational experiences of inclusion/exclusion in Vancouver. My information was gathered from in-depth interviews and participant observation with the first- and second-generation, Muslim and non-religious female and male Turkish immigrant youth from working and middle-class families. The findings of this study indicate that teachers' racism, linguicism and general Islamophobia are the factors of discrimination against Turkish immigrant youth in the education market. The findings suggest that cultural background, immigration status, class and religious affiliation are significant elements in students' relations to the school culture and their educational experiences of inclusion/exclusion in Canadian schools.     

The early developmental competencies and school readiness of low-income,immigrant children: Influences of generation,race/ethnicity,and national origins

Though much valuable research has been conducted on the academic achievement of school-age immigrant youth, less is known about the early developmental competencies of immigrant children during the preschool years. This study describes the school readiness of 2194 low-income children receiving subsidies to attend child care with emphasis on how nativity status (generation), race/ethnicity, and national origins might be related to children's preparedness for kindergarten. The Learning Accomplishment Profile–Diagnostic (LAP-D) was used to measure cognitive and language skills, while teacher-report on the Devereux Early Childhood Assessment (DECA) measured socio-emotional protective factors and behavior concerns. Results demonstrate that variation does exist in school readiness according to nativity-based factors. First- and second-generation immigrants lagged behind children in non-immigrant families in cognitive and language skills but excelled by comparison in socio-emotional skills and behavior. In many cases, first-generation immigrant children showed more advanced development than second-generation immigrant children, providing some evidence in the early years for an immigrant advantage. The present study raises awareness regarding some of the strengths immigrant children demonstrate from a very young age—strengths that can be built upon to encourage their later success and academic achievement.