Chapter 9: Immigrant Generational Differences in Academic Achievement: The Case of Asian American High School Students

Previous research has indicated that immigrant generational status has a significant impact on the educational achievement of Asian American students. However, no study has been conducted on the consistency and variability of the impact in different subject areas across different grade levels. This study identified 950 Asian American high school students from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88) and explored the effect of generational status in four subject areas—reading, mathematics, science, and social studies—and at three grade levels (8, 10, and 12). MANOVA and multiple regression analyses were applied to test scores at the three grade levels, and the change of test scores across the high school years was modeled by covariance structure analysis. The results showed that Asian American students of the first and second-generations had better academic performance at each grade level and faster growth across the years than those of the third and later generations. It was also found that mathematics and science were the two subject areas that distinguished the first two generations from later generations. The observed generational differences in the academic performance and its growth were significant after the effects of major background characteristics were controlled for.