The Role of School in the Upward Mobility of Disadvantaged Immigrants' Children

Lingxin Hao and Suet-Ling Pong
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Lingxin Hao: Johns Hopkins University
Suet-Ling Pong: Pennsylvania State University

The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 2008, vol. 620, issue 1, 62-89

Abstract: How can we explain exceptional advancement by disadvantaged immigrants' children? Extending segmented assimilation theory, this article traces the structural and relational attributes of high schools attended by young adults who reached their late twenties in 2000. Hypotheses are derived from theories in sociology of education and tested with four waves of data from the National Educational Longitudinal Study (NELS). The authors offer three major findings. First, an overwhelming majority of disadvantaged students attend public schools; some relational attributes are typical in public schools attended by disadvantaged students. Second, children's upward mobility is shaped by the structural and relational attributes of their high schools. Most school effects are the same for disadvantaged and advantaged youngsters, and student-educator bonds and curriculum structure have even stronger positive effects for the disadvantaged. Finally, mobility patterns differ widely among Chinese, Mexicans, and whites. Mexicans are less likely to be exposed to favorable school attributes.

Keywords: immigrant children; upward mobility; high school effects; segmented assimilation; immigrants and education; structural and relational attributes; Mexican; Chinese (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:anname:v:620:y:2008:i:1:p:62-89

DOI: 10.1177/0002716208322582

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