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Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance (1999)

Chapter: 7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants

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Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
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CHAPTER 7
Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children of Immigrants1

Christine Winquist Nord and James A. Griffin

This chapter provides a broad overview of the educational experiences of young children of immigrants and contrasts their experiences with those of children of native-born parents using data from a 1996 national survey, the National Household Education Survey, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education (Nolin et al., 1997). The profile is restricted to children 3 to 8 years old who live with at least one biological, adoptive, step-, or foster parent. As in other chapters of this volume, children are classified as children of immigrants if they have at least one parent who was not born in the United States or in a territory of the United States. Children of immigrants who were foreign born are referred to as foreign-born or immigrant children. Children of immigrants who were born in the United States or one of its territories are referred to as native-born children of immigrants.

Children of immigrants are expected to account for more than half the growth in the school-aged population between 1990 and 2010 (Passel and Fix, 1995). Despite their growing numbers, relatively little is known about their educational experiences (Portes

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 This paper is intended to promote the exchange of ideas among researchers and policy makers. The views expressed in it are part of ongoing research and analysis and do not necessarily reflect the position of the U.S. Department of Education.

Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×

and MacLeod, 1996). Information about young children of immigrants is particularly scarce (Board on Children and Families, 1995). Yet the early childhood years are critical for children's cognitive and social development. It is during these years that children begin to develop and expand their ability to communicate effectively with others and begin to acquire reading and math skills that lay the foundation for their future school success and ultimately their success in the work force. The years before children enter formal schooling are especially important in preparing them for school, as is recognized in Goal One of the National Education Goals, which states that ''by the year 2000, all children in America will start school ready to learn" (National Education Goals Panel, 1996). This goal reminds us that how children do in school is determined in part by things that have happened before they ever set foot in a classroom. Learning more about the family circumstances and educational experiences of children of immigrants during these important early years will enable educators and policy makers to develop better ways of serving these children and their families.

Researchers have consistently found that certain family characteristics, such as family composition (e.g., number and type of parents, number of siblings), economic well-being, and parental education, exert a strong influence on children's school success (Zill, 1996; Portes and MacLeod, 1996; McLanahan and Sandefur, 1994; Featherman and Hauser, 1978; Blau and Duncan, 1967). Family involvement in children's lives, both at home and at school, also is important for children's school success (Nord et al., forthcoming; U.S. Department of Education, 1994; Henderson and Berla, 1994). A useful way of thinking about these and other family influences on children's development is to think of them as resources that parents offer their children. These resources can be grouped into three distinct types of capital: human, financial, and social (Lee, 1993; Muller, 1993; Coleman, 1991; Becker, 1981). Human capital is usually measured as parental education, though it encompasses other skills and specialized knowledge that parents have acquired. Financial capital is measured by the income and economic security of a family, which influences the quality of the environment that children are raised in; the types of schools they attend; and the types of educational materials that parents can

Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×

purchase for them such as books, extracurricular classes, or computers. Social capital taps both the direct interactions between parents and children and the indirect influences on children of parents' relationships with others in the family, with the children's schools, and with other persons and institutions that influence children. Parental involvement at home and at school falls within this domain. Some family characteristics, such as family composition, span all three types of family resources. For example, the presence of two parents versus one influences family income as well as the number of adults present to interact with children. Moreover, many single-parent families are maintained by mothers with relatively low levels of education (Rawlings, 1994; Zill and Nord, 1994).

The three types of family resources described above influence children from birth throughout their school careers. Young children not only learn from their parents and other family members at home but also benefit from exposure to early childhood programs prior to first grade (Boocock, 1995; Howes, 1988). Early childhood programs (e.g., Head Start) are especially beneficial for children from disadvantaged backgrounds (Boocock, 1995; Hofferth et al., 1994). Such programs help prepare children to be "ready to learn" when they enter formal schooling (Zill and Wolpow, 1991). Once children enter formal schooling, schools also exert a strong influence on children's cognitive and social development (Alexander and Entwisle, 1996; Coleman et al., 1982; Rutter et al., 1979).

This chapter provides information on family resources that children of immigrants have that may influence their later school success. It also provides information on the extent to which they attend early childhood programs, characteristics of the schools they attend, and their experiences at school. Detailed tables on these topics are contained in the appendix. The tables provide information on whether the children were native or foreign born and on the children's races and ethnicities.2 Due to sample size

2  

 Throughout this chapter Hispanic children are designated as such and are not included in other racial or ethnic categories. Thus, white children are white non-Hispanic children, black children are black non-Hispanic children, and Asian children are Asian non-Hispanic children.

Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×

constraints, not all categories of race and ethnicity could be used for both children of immigrants and children of native-born parents. Information is shown for Hispanic, Asian, and white children of immigrants.3 There were too few black children in immigrant families to show separately. Information is shown for white, black, and Hispanic children of native-born parents. There were too few children of native-born parents who were Asian to show separately. In the discussion below, selected information from the appendix tables is highlighted; refer to the tables for additional information.

THE NATIONAL HOUSEHOLD EDUCATION SURVEY

The data presented in this chapter were collected as part of the 1996 National Household Education Survey (NHES:96) sponsored by the National Center for Education Statistics (Collins et al., 1997). The NHES is a random digit dial telephone survey that uses computer-assisted telephone interviewing technology to collect data on high-priority topics that could not be addressed adequately through school-or institution-based surveys. NHES:96 was conducted from January to April 1996 and included interviews with parents of 20,792 children 3 years old through grade 12. This chapter focuses on the 7,717 children who were 3 to 8 years old and their parents. More details on NHES:96 are provided in Appendix 7A.

According to data from NHES:96, there are nearly 23 million children ages 3 to 8 who live with at least one biological, adoptive, step-, or foster parent. Of these, over 3 million or 14 percent

3  

It was not possible to determine the countries of origin of any of the children of immigrants in the survey. In 1996 immigrants from Mexico accounted for over a quarter of the foreign-born population in the United States (Hansen and Faber, 1997). Twelve percent of the foreign-born population in 1996 was from Central or South America. Approximately 25 percent of the foreign-born population was from Asia, which includes persons from the Philippines, China, India, Vietnam, Korea, and other Asian countries. Just over 10 percent of the foreign-born population was from one of the Caribbean islands, including Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Jamaica. Seventeen percent of the foreign-born population was from Europe. Some of the foreign-born population immigrated recently, while others have lived in the United States for many years.

Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×

live with at least one parent who is not a native of the United States (see Table 7A-1). Most young children of immigrants are native born (2.8 million or 87 percent), although approximately 430,000 are foreign born. Immigrant children tend to be somewhat older than native-born children of immigrants. Only 21 percent of immigrant children are 3 or 4 years old compared to 38 percent of native-born children of immigrants and 33 percent of children of native-born parents. The majority of immigrants' children 3 to 8 years old are Hispanic (54 percent). Twenty-six percent are white, 9 percent are black, 7 percent are Asian,4 and 4 percent are some other race or ethnicity. In contrast, 72 percent of children of native-born parents are white, 17 percent are black, 8 percent are Hispanic, less than 1 percent are Asian, and 3 percent are some other race or ethnicity.

Family Resources

Children of immigrants and children of native-born parents often have very different family backgrounds. However, the differences are not always to the advantage of the children of native-born parents.

Family Composition

Number of Parents. Children who grow up with two biological parents fare better in a wide variety of domains, including school,

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The Asian children of immigrants interviewed in the NHES may not be representative of all Asian children of immigrants. Bilingual interviewers were available for Spanish-speaking households but not for households that spoke other foreign languages. Thus, Asian households in which no adult spoke English would not have been interviewed. For this reason the Asian sample may be biased toward families that have at least one English speaker. Such families may tend to have higher incomes. As shown later, however, approximately one-third of Asian children of immigrants are in households with incomes below the poverty threshold. According to data from the Current Population Survey, in 1993 about 12 percent of Asian and Pacific Islander families had incomes below the poverty threshold (Bureau of the Census, 1994). Typically, families with children are more apt to be poor. Thus, the Asian sample in the NHES:96 does not appear to be unduly biased toward high-income families.

Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×

compared to children who live apart from one or both of their parents (McLanahan and Sandefur, 1994; Rumbaut, this volume). In this respect, children of immigrants have an advantage over children of native-born parents because they are more likely to live with both their biological parents: 77 percent of children of immigrants live with both their biological parents compared to 63 percent of children of native-born parents. Among children of immigrants, whether the children were native or foreign born makes no difference in the likelihood that they live with both their biological parents. However, Asian and white children of immigrants are more likely than Hispanic children of immigrants to live with both their biological parents (88 percent each versus 72 percent). The proportion of Hispanic children of immigrants, however, who live with both their biological parents is virtually the same as that of white children of native-born parents (72 versus 73 percent), much higher than the 49 percent of Hispanic children of native-born parents who live with both biological parents.

Presence of Siblings. Children from smaller families tend to go further and do better in school than children from larger families (Blake, 1989). Children of immigrants are somewhat less likely than children of native-born parents to have no siblings in their households and are more likely to have three or more siblings in their households. Hispanic children of immigrants are particularly likely to have three or more siblings. Twenty-six percent of Hispanic children of immigrants have three or more siblings. In contrast, 15 percent of Hispanic children of native-born parents, 11 percent of Asian, and 9 percent of white children of immigrants, and 13 and 17 percent, respectively, of white and black children of native-born parents have that many siblings.

Human and Financial Capital

Parental Education. The diversity of the immigrant population is reflected in the education levels of children's parents (see Figure 7-1). Children of immigrants are more likely than children of native-born parents to live in a household in which the most highly educated parent has less than a high school education (23 versus 7 percent). On the other hand, children of immigrants are as likely

Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×

FIGURE 7-1 Percentage of children ages 3 to 8 years by selected levels of parental education. NOTE: Hispanic children are designated as such and are not included in any other racial or ethnic categories. SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1996 National Household Education Survey.

Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×

as children of native-born parents to have a parent with graduate or professional school experience (14 and 12 percent, respectively). Hispanic children of immigrants are substantially more likely than other children of immigrants or children of native-born parents to live in households in which the most educated parent has less than a high school education. Thirty-six percent of Hispanic children of immigrants live in such households, compared to 17 percent of Hispanic children of native-born parents and 4 percent each of white children of native-born parents and Asian children of immigrants. Asian and white children of immigrants, on the other hand, are substantially more likely than Hispanic children of immigrants or children of native-born parents to live in households in which a parent has graduate or professional school experience. Twenty-eight percent of Asian and 27 percent of white children of immigrants live in such households compared to 15 percent of white children of native-born parents, 6 percent of Hispanic children of native-born parents, and 4 percent each of Hispanic children of immigrants and black children of native-born parents.

Language Spoken at Home. Language acquisition is one of the most notable accomplishments of young children. How well they learn to speak English may affect how well they adapt to school. A study of eighth graders found that students who mostly or always spoke a language other than English at home scored lower on standardized math and reading tests than students who spoke English at home (Kao, this volume). Moreover, the students tended to feel more alienated from their peers and had a lower sense of self-esteem and locus of control than students who spoke English at home. Children learn to speak through listening to and interacting with their parents and others around them. Many young children of immigrants have parents who do not usually speak English at home (49 percent). Hispanic and Asian children are particularly likely to live with parents who do not usually speak English at home (71 and 68 percent, respectively), while only 12 percent of white children of immigrants have parents who usually speak some other language at home. In contrast, 99 percent of children of native-born parents have parents who usually speak English at home. However, 10 percent of Hispanic children

Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×

of native-born parents have parents who do not usually speak English at home. The differences between children of native-born parents and children of immigrants in the languages that they hear at home means that upon entering school children of immigrants may not know English as well as their peers do.

Poverty Status. Poverty is associated with poor educational outcomes for children, including low achievement test scores, grade repetition, problem behaviors that result in suspension or expulsion, and dropping out of school (Zill et al., 1995b; McLanahan and Sandefur, 1994). Although children of immigrants are more likely than children of native-born parents to live in poverty (36 versus 24 percent), the majority do not. There are differences in the likelihood of living in poverty by children's races and ethnicities. Fifty-three percent of Hispanic children of immigrants live in poverty compared to 32 percent of Asian and 11 percent of white children of immigrants. Hispanic children of immigrants are more likely to live in poverty than Hispanic children of native-born parents (53 versus 36 percent) and are as likely as black children of native-born parents to live in poverty (53 versus 52 percent). In contrast, only 15 percent of white children of native-born parents live in poverty.

Social Capital

In recognition of the importance of parents to young children's learning, one objective of Goal One of the National Education Goals states that parents should be their children's first teachers, devoting time each day to helping their preschool children learn (National Education Goals Panel, 1996; see Table 7A-2). Although this goal focuses on preschool children, parental involvement in children's education is known to be important for older children as well. This section examines the extent to which immigrant and native-born families are involved with their children's learning at home and at school.5

5  

The information presented here is based on parent reports. It is possible that parents have a tendency to give the "socially desirable" response and thus overstate the extent to which they engage in different activities with their children or

Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×

Parent Involvement at Home. Among the things that parents can do that help their children's later school success are teaching their young children letters and numbers; reading to them; working on projects with them; taking them to museums, zoos, and other educational outings; and sharing day-to-day activities with them (Bredekamp, 1987). The NHES:96 data show that most parents of young children are serving as their children's first teachers: 93 percent of children 3 years old through kindergarten have parents or other family members who taught them letters, words, or numbers in the past week. Children of immigrants and children of native-born parents are essentially the same in this regard.6 Ninety-four percent of native-born children have parents or other family members who taught them letters, words, or numbers in the past week, compared to 92 percent of children of immigrants. There are some differences when children of immigrants are examined by their races and ethnicities. Asian children of immigrants are more likely than Hispanic children of immigrants to have been taught letters, numbers, or words by family members in the past week. Ninety-seven percent of Asian children of immigrants not yet enrolled in grade 1 or higher were taught letters, words, or numbers by their parents or other family members in the previous week compared to 90 percent of Hispanic children of immigrants.

Most young children ages 3 to 8, regardless of whether they are children of immigrants or native-born parents, were told a story in the past week by someone in their family. Seventy-six percent of children of immigrants and 77 percent of children of native-born parents had been told a story in the past week. Asian

   

are involved in their children's schools. However, even if there is a tendency for parents to be overly positive about their involvement in their children's lives, group differences probably reflect true differences because there is no a priori reason to believe that one group of parents is more likely than another to give the socially desirable response.

6  

 The NHES:96 did not ask what language the parents or other family members used when they taught their children words, letters, or numbers or what language they used when they told their children stories or read to them. Some immigrant family members may have been using their native tongues when teaching and reading to their children.

Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×

and white children of immigrants are more likely than Hispanic children of immigrants to have been told a story in the previous week (83 and 84 percent, respectively, versus 71 percent). Among native-born children, 79 percent of Hispanic children, 78 percent of white children, and 73 percent of black children had been told a story by a family member in the past week.

Most young children were also read to in the previous week: 89 percent of children of immigrants ages 3 through third grade were read to by someone in their family at least once in the past week, as were 93 percent of children of native-born parents. A much smaller, though not insubstantial, proportion were read to every day (see Figure 7-2). Children of immigrants were less likely than children of native-born parents to be read to every day (37 versus 45 percent). There are also differences by children's races and ethnicities. Asian and white children of immigrants

FIGURE 7-2 Percentage of children, ages 3 to 8 years, who were read to every day in the past week by a family member. NOTE: Hispanic children are designated as such and are not included in any other racial or ethnic categories. SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1996 National Household Education Survey.

Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×

were more likely to be read to every day than were Hispanic children of immigrants (51 percent each versus 29 percent). Among children of native-born parents, 48 percent of white, 37 percent of black, and 39 percent of Hispanic children were read to every day in the past week by someone in their families.

Children are less likely to go on educational outings with their parents than they are to share activities at home with them. Even so, a sizable minority of children had visited a library; gone to a play, concert, or other live show; visited an art gallery; museum, or historical site; or visited a zoo or aquarium with a family member in the past month. Children of native-born parents are more likely than children of immigrants to have visited a library and to have gone to a play, concert, or live show with a family member in the past month. Forty-five percent of children of native-born parents and 38 percent of children of immigrants visited the library with a family member in the past month. Similarly, 30 percent of children of native-born parents attended a play, concert, or live show with their parents compared to 26 percent of children of immigrants. It is possible that lack of fluency in English is a barrier to these activities for some immigrant parents. There are also differences among children of immigrants by children's races and ethnicities. Over half of Asian and white children of immigrants (54 and 51 percent, respectively) visited the library and a third (34 and 33 percent, respectively) went to some type of live show in the past month with a family member compared to 27 percent of Hispanic children of immigrants who visited a library and 21 percent who went to a live show with a family member. Children of immigrants, however, are more likely than children of native-born parents to have visited a zoo or aquarium in the past month with a family member (23 versus 16 percent).

Parental Involvement at School. Another way in which parents encourage their children's school success is to become involved in their children's schools. Such involvement, among other things, demonstrates to the children that they value education. However, parents who do not speak English well or who are not familiar with the school system may not feel comfortable getting involved in schools. Or, perhaps, schools are not very welcoming of non-English-speaking parents, which could discourage the par-

Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×

ents from becoming involved. Alternatively, some immigrant groups may believe that they should not interfere with what they consider school responsibilities. Such parents, however, may be very involved at home.

The NHES:96 asked parents whether any adult in the household had participated in four types of school activities since the beginning of the school year: attending a general school meeting, attending a regularly scheduled parent-teacher conference with the child's teacher, attending a school or class event, or volunteering at school. Parents (or other adults) who participated in at least three of these four activities are be said to be highly involved in their children's schools. Those who participated in only two activities are said to be moderately involved. And those who participated in none or only one activity are said to have low involvement in their children's schools. Only 15 percent of children of native-born parents and 17 percent of children of immigrants have parents with low levels of involvement in their schools. Native-born parents are more likely than immigrant parents to show high levels of involvement in their children's schools (see Figure 7-3). Sixty-five percent of children of native-born parents have parents who are highly involved in their schools, compared to 57 percent of children of immigrants. Hispanic and Asian children of immigrants are less likely than white children of native-born parents to have parents with high levels of involvement in their schools (49 and 57 percent, respectively, versus 68 percent). Hispanic children of immigrants are also less likely than Hispanic children of native-born parents to have parents with high levels of involvement in their schools (49 versus 59 percent).

Immigrant parents are much less likely than native-born parents to volunteer at their children's schools. Fifty-three percent of children of native-born parents have parents who volunteered at their school, compared to 38 percent of children of immigrants. Foreign-born children of immigrants are less likely than native-born children of immigrants to have parents who volunteered at their schools (24 versus 41 percent). Hispanic and Asian children of immigrants are less likely than white children of immigrants or white children of native-born parents to have parents who volunteered at their schools. Twenty-nine percent of Hispanic and 36 percent of Asian children of immigrants have parents who volun-

Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×

FIGURE 7-3 Percentage of children, ages 3 to 8 years, whose parents are highly involved in their schools. NOTE: Hispanic children are designated as such and are not included in any other racial or ethnic categories. SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1996 National Household Education Survey.

teered at their schools, compared to 54 percent of white children of immigrants and 56 percent of white children of native-born parents. It is likely that lack of fluency in English makes volunteering more difficult for some Asian and Hispanic immigrant parents.

Immigrant parents, however, are as likely as native-born parents to attend regularly scheduled parent-teacher conferences (82 versus 79 percent). Similarly, foreign-born children of immigrants are as likely as native-born children of immigrants to have parents who attended parent-teacher conferences (84 versus 81 percent). And Hispanic children of immigrants are as likely as Hispanic children of native-born parents to have parents who attended a parent-teacher conference (83 versus 78 percent). Moreover, white and Asian children of immigrants are more likely than white children of native-born parents to have parents who attended parent-teacher conferences (86 percent each versus 79 percent).

Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×

What is most important about the above school involvement data are not the differences but rather that most parents of young children, immigrant and nonimmigrant alike, are interested in their children's learning and show their interest by participating in school activities.

Attendance at Early Childhood Programs

Almost all U.S. children attend kindergarten before beginning first grade (Zill et al., 1995a; see Table 7A-3). More and more younger children are also attending formal programs in school-like settings such as preschool, nursery school, Head Start programs, and day care centers. Such programs help prepare children for regular school. Policy makers are concerned, however, that not all children have equal access to good early childhood education programs. This concern is articulated in one of the objectives of the first National Education Goal that all children start school ready to learn. The objective states that all disadvantaged and disabled children will have access to high-quality, developmentally appropriate programs (National Education Goals Panel, 1996). Research finds though that this objective has not yet been met (Hofferth et al., 1994).

Attendance at Early Childhood Programs. The NHES:96 indicates that, among children who are not yet enrolled in kindergarten or elementary school, 55 percent are enrolled in some type of early childhood program (see Figure 7-4). Children of native-born parents are more likely than children of immigrants to attend such programs (58 versus 41 percent). Among children of immigrants, Hispanic and Asian children are less likely than white children to attend early childhood programs (31 and 35 percent, respectively, versus 57 percent). Hispanic children of immigrants are also substantially less likely than Hispanic children of native-born parents to be enrolled in early childhood programs (31 versus 47 percent).

Participation in Head Start Programs. Head Start is primarily intended to serve children from low-income families. Among poor children not yet enrolled in kindergarten, about 38 percent attend

Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×

FIGURE 7-4 Percentage of children attending early childhood programs by immigrant status and race/ethnicity. NOTE: Hispanic children are designated as such and are not included in any other racial or ethnic categories. SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1996 National Household Education Survey.

Head Start.7 Poor children of immigrants, however, are less likely than poor children of native-born parents to attend Head Start (25 versus 46 percent). Poor Hispanic and Asian children of immigrants are about equally likely to attend Head Start programs (25 versus 22 percent). However, poor Hispanic children of immigrants are less likely than poor Hispanic children of native-born parents to attend Head Start (25 versus 33 percent).

School Characteristics

Children are influenced not only by their parents but also by their schools. Characteristics of schools that may be important include structural aspects (e.g., public versus private, the size of a

7

This estimate accords well with other sources. Stewart (1993) estimated that about 40 percent of eligible 4 year olds were enrolled in Head Start. A smaller proportion of eligible 3 year olds was enrolled in Head Start.

Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×

school), the learning environment of the schools (e.g., school discipline and respect between students and teachers), and the extent to which schools involve parents in their children's learning (e.g., school practices).

Type of School. Coleman et al. (1982) have argued that private schools, particularly religiously affiliated ones, instill a greater sense of community among students, teachers, and parents. The greater sense of community, in turn, means that students attending private schools have greater access to social capital than students attending public schools. Children of immigrants are no more or less likely than children of native-born parents to attend private schools. Most children enrolled in elementary school attend the public schools assigned to them. Seventy percent of children of immigrants and 71 percent of children of native-born parents attend the public schools assigned to them. Sixteen percent of children of immigrants and 17 percent of children of native-born parents attend public elementary schools of their parents' choice. Ten percent of children of immigrants and 10 percent of children of native-born parents attend private religiously affiliated schools. And 5 percent of children of immigrants and 3 percent of children of native-born parents attend private schools with no religious affiliation.

School Size. School size, like school type, may be associated with differences in the sense of community within schools. It is more difficult to establish ties among parents, students, and teachers in larger schools than it is in smaller ones. The NHES:96 data reveal that children of immigrants are more likely than children of native-born parents to attend very large schools. Thirteen percent of young children of immigrants attend schools with 1,000 or more students compared to 8 percent of children of native-born parents. Among children of immigrants, foreign-born children are more likely than native-born children to attend very large elementary schools (23 versus 11 percent). They are also less likely than native-born children of immigrants to attend small elementary schools—that is, schools of under 300 students (14 versus 23 percent). Hispanic children of immigrants are particularly unlikely to attend small elementary schools. Sixteen percent of Hispanic children of immigrants attend elementary schools of less

Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×

than 300 students compared to 42 percent of Asian and 31 percent of white children of immigrants and 28 percent of white children of native-born parents.

School Environment. Children are better able to learn if the schools they attend are well disciplined and there is a sense of community (Rutter et al., 1979). The NHES:96 asked parents of children in grades 1 and above the extent to which they agreed that teachers maintain good discipline in the classroom, that the principal and assistant principal maintain good discipline at school, and that most students and teachers at the school respect each other. Children of immigrants are less likely than children of native-born parents to have parents who strongly agree that teachers maintain good discipline in the classroom and that students and teachers respect each other. Forty-six percent of children of immigrants have parents who strongly agree that teachers maintain good discipline in the classrooms compared to 53 percent of children of native-born parents. Thirty-eight percent of children of immigrants have parents who strongly agree that most students and teachers respect each other compared to 46 percent of children of native-born parents. It is possible that differences in the use of language qualifiers may be a factor in these results. For example, immigrant parents may be less comfortable using the qualifier ''strongly" in their responses. There are, however, no significant differences between children of immigrants and children of native-born parents in the proportion whose parents strongly agree that the principal and assistant principal maintain good discipline in their schools (48 versus 51 percent).

Hispanic children of immigrants are less likely than white children of immigrants and white children of native-born parents to have parents who strongly agree with each of the above statements. For example, 36 percent of Hispanic children of immigrants have parents who strongly agree that teachers maintain good discipline in their classrooms, compared to 62 percent of white children of immigrants and 55 percent of white children of native-born parents. Similarly, 30 percent of Hispanic children of immigrants have parents who strongly agree that teachers and students respect each other, compared to 52 percent of white children of immigrants and 48 percent of white children of native-born parents.

Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×

School Practices. Parental involvement is strongly linked to children's school success. Existing research suggests that school practices to involve parents are important influences on parental involvement (Vaden-Kiernan, 1996; Dauber and Epstein, 1989). For example, parents are more likely to become involved in their children's schools if the schools communicate with them about school programs and activities and encourage their involvement. The importance of schools in fostering parental involvement is reflected in the eighth National Education Goal, which calls for every school to promote partnerships that will increase parental involvement (National Education Goals Panel, 1996).

Parents were asked whether they strongly agreed, agreed, disagreed, or strongly disagreed with the following statements: "My child's school welcomes my family's involvement with the school" and "My child's school makes it easy to be involved there." Children of native-born parents are more likely than children of immigrants to have parents who strongly agree with each of these statements. Sixty-five percent of children of native-born parents have parents who strongly agree that their children's schools welcome their involvement, compared to 53 percent of children of immigrants. Similarly, 57 percent of children of native-born parents have parents who strongly agree that the schools make involvement easy compared to 45 percent of children of immigrants. Foreign-born children of immigrants are less likely than native-born children of immigrants to have parents who strongly agree with these statements. Forty percent of foreign-born children have parents who strongly agree that their schools welcome family involvement compared to 55 percent of native-born children of immigrants. Similarly; 38 percent of foreign-born children of immigrants have parents who strongly agree that schools make involvement easy compared to 47 percent of native-born children of immigrants.

Hispanic children of immigrants are less likely than white children of immigrants and white and Hispanic children of native-born parents to have parents who strongly agree that their schools welcome their family's involvement and make involvement easy. Thirty-nine percent of Hispanic children have parents who strongly agree that their schools welcome their family's involvement, compared to 70 percent of white children of immi-

Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×

grants, 67 percent of white children of native-born parents, and 58 percent of Hispanic children of native-born parents. Similarly, 38 percent of Hispanic children of immigrants have parents who strongly agree that their schools make involvement easy, compared to 58 percent of white children of immigrants and 60 percent of white children and 52 percent of Hispanic children of native-born parents.

Children's School Experiences

Parents were asked a series of questions about their children's experiences at school (see Table 7A-5). Parents of children in grades 1 and above were asked whether they strongly agreed, agreed, disagreed, or strongly disagreed that their children enjoyed school. They were also asked what grades their children received overall during the current school year and whether their children participated in any extracurricular activities either at school or elsewhere during the current school year. Parents of children in kindergarten and above were asked if their children had ever repeated a grade since entering kindergarten. Parents of all children were asked whether teachers at the school had contacted them since the beginning of the school year because of any problems the children were having. Parents of children in kindergarten and above were asked two questions: whether they had been contacted about behavior problems their children were having at school and whether they had been contacted about problems their children were having with schoolwork.

Get Mostly A's. One measure of children's academic success is how well they are doing in school. According to the parents' reports, children of immigrants are not significantly more likely than children of native-born parents to be getting mostly A's (46 versus 42 percent).8 There are also no significant differences be-

8  

Parents may have a tendency to be overly positive about their children's academic achievement. It is likely that, if school records were used to obtain information on children's academic success, the proportion who received mostly A's would be lower.

Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×

tween foreign-born and native-born children of immigrants in the likelihood that they are getting mostly A's (47 versus 46 percent). Asian children of immigrants, however, are substantially more likely than Hispanic immigrant or white children of native-born parents to have parents who report that they get mostly A's. Sixty-three percent of Asian children of immigrants get mostly A's according to their parents, compared to 41 percent of Hispanic children of immigrants and 43 percent of white children of native-born parents.

Enjoy School. Children who enjoy school are more likely to perform better academically and to remain in school (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990). Most parents report that their children enjoy school. Children of immigrants and children of native-born parents are very similar in this regard. Forty-five percent of the children of immigrants had parents who strongly agreed that they enjoyed school, compared to 51 percent of the children of native-born parents. Hispanic children of immigrants are less likely than white children of immigrants and white children of native-born parents to enjoy school, according to their parents. Thirty-seven percent of Hispanic children of immigrants had parents who strongly agreed that they enjoyed school, compared to 56 percent of white children of immigrants and 52 percent of white children of native-born parents. There are no significant differences between Hispanic and Asian children of immigrants or between Hispanic children of immigrants and Hispanic children of native-born parents in the proportion who enjoy school.

Participation in Extracurricular Activities. Participation in extracurricular activities reduces risky behaviors in adolescence, such as dropping out of school, becoming a teen parent, using drugs, or engaging in delinquent conduct (Zill et al., 1995c). It also provides more opportunities to establish connections to other young people and adults and to develop new skills. Children of immigrants are significantly less likely than children of native-born parents to participate in extracurricular activities either inside or outside school. Approximately 76 percent of children of native-born parents participated in such activities compared to 63 per-

Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×

cent of children of immigrants. There are differences in the likelihood of participating in extracurricular activities by children's races and ethnicities. Asian and white children of immigrants are substantially more likely than Hispanic children of immigrants to participate in extracurricular activities either inside or outside school (78 and 79 percent, respectively, versus 49 percent). Hispanic children of immigrants, however, are not significantly less likely than Hispanic children of native-born parents to participate in extracurricular activities (49 versus 57 percent).

Problems in School. Problems in school, if not attended to, can develop into larger problems that can eventually lead to school failure and to dropping out of school. Children of immigrants are no more or less likely than children of native-born parents to experience behavior or schoolwork-related problems that result in a teacher contacting their parents (25 versus 29 percent). There are no significant differences among children of immigrants in the likelihood that they experience school problems by whether they are native or foreign born or by their races and ethnicities. Hispanic children of immigrants are marginally more likely than Asian children of immigrants to experience problems in school, but the difference is only significant at the 0.10 level after using a Bonferonni adjustment to the t test for the number of comparisons being made. Asian children of immigrants, however, are less likely than white children of native-born parents to experience problems at school (17 versus 27 percent).

Grade Repetition. Grade repetition is a sign of academic difficulties. Children who have repeated a grade may also experience a lower sense of self-esteem and more difficulties getting along with their younger classmates. Children of immigrants are no more likely than children of native-born parents to have ever repeated a grade since entering kindergarten. Five percent of children were reported as having ever repeated a grade, regardless of whether they are children of immigrants or children of native-born parents. Six percent of foreign-born children of immigrants have ever repeated a grade.

Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×
Summary And Discussion

In the coming decades the American education system will face growing numbers of children of immigrants. The information presented in this chapter underscores what others have found: children of immigrants are not a homogeneous group. There are distinct differences among young children of immigrants by whether they themselves were native or foreign born and by their ethnicity. As a group, young children of immigrants face many challenges to their educational success. Among these are the relatively high proportion who are living in poverty and whose parents have low levels of education. This is particularly true of Hispanic children of immigrants, over half of whom have household incomes that are below the poverty threshold and more than a third of whom live in households in which the most educated parent has less than a high school education. Asian children of immigrants, however, are not immune to economic difficulties: approximately one-third of Asian children of immigrants also live in households with incomes below the poverty threshold. Foreign-born children of immigrants are more likely than native-born children of immigrants to live in poverty and to have parents with low levels of education.

Simple tabulations suggest that children of immigrants who are not yet enrolled in kindergarten or elementary school are less likely than native-born children to be enrolled in early childhood programs. Poor children of immigrants also appear less likely than poor children of native-born parents to be enrolled in Head Start. It might be worthwhile for Head Start programs and other early childhood programs to target children of immigrants in order to help them adapt more quickly to American culture and language so that they will be ready to learn upon entry into school.

Another potential challenge to the educational success of children of immigrants is the high proportion of Hispanic and Asian immigrants whose parents do not usually speak English at home. Although some of these parents may have a rudimentary or even better knowledge of English, to the extent that they are not comfortable speaking English it will be more difficult for them to communicate with their children's teachers and other school person-

Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×

nel. Moreover, their children will not be hearing English spoken regularly at home, which could impede their own acquisition of the language. Increasing the participation of young children of immigrants in Head Start and other early childhood programs would help the children learn English more quickly.

Children of immigrants, however, also have a number of strengths that should serve them well as they enter and progress through school. An important strength is the large proportion of children of immigrants who live with both biological parents. Another strength is the interest that their families show in their education. Many young children of immigrants not yet in elementary school have parents who are serving as their children's first teachers by teaching them letters, words, and numbers; by telling them stories; and by reading to them at least occasionally each week. Although some of the parents may be using their native languages rather than English in teaching and reading to their children, studies have suggested that literacy in their native non-English language can contribute to children's academic success (Bankston and Zhou, 1995). There are several mechanisms by which literacy in one's native language might affect school success. One possibility is that there is a transfer of information such that things learned in one language are transferred more easily to the second. A second possibility is that children who are bilingual have access to more social capital: that of their own ethnic communities and that of their schools and the larger American society (Bankston and Zhou, 1995).

The data presented in this chapter also reveal that the majority of parents of young children of immigrants are involved in their children's schools. Though the proportion of children of immigrants whose parents are highly involved is not as large as the proportion of native-born children whose parents are highly involved, only a small proportion have parents who show only low levels of involvement in their schools. Immigrant parents appear particularly interested in attending parent-teacher conferences: 80 percent or more of children of immigrants had parents who attended regularly scheduled parent-teacher conferences. The data also suggest, however, that immigrant parents are less likely than native-born parents to feel that their children's schools welcome their involvement and make involvement easy for them.

Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×

LIMITATIONS OF THE DATA

There are several limitations of the data that need to be recognized. First, the NHES:96 is a telephone survey of households. About one-quarter of children living in poverty live in households without telephones. Adjustments were made through the use of weights so that estimates apply to all households with and without telephones. It is not known, however, how well the adjustments did at reflecting specific characteristics or opinions of households without telephones.

Second, interviews were conducted only in English or Spanish. Households without an English or Spanish speaker were not interviewed. Language problems accounted for about 6 percent of all nonresponses to the parent survey (Montaquila and Brick, 1997). Most nonresponses were due to refusals to be interviewed (62 percent). It is possible that immigrant households were more reluctant to be interviewed than nonimmigrant households. Response rates across census regions, however, are quite similar. Given that a majority of immigrants live in the Western part of the country, the similarity of the response rates provides some evidence that nonresponse among immigrants is not a large problem.

Sample sizes for some groups (such as the Asian immigrant and foreign-born populations) are small. For that reason, estimates provided in this chapter should be interpreted cautiously. No estimate is provided if the denominator used to calculate a percentage consisted of 30 or fewer cases. Finally, the NHES:96 is a cross-sectional survey and as such provides only a snapshot of children of immigrants at a point in time. Longitudinal data, such as the Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey—Kindergarten Cohort, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, will allow researchers to examine the developmental trajectories of young children as they progress through school.

IMPLICATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH

It was not possible with the NHES:96 data to examine the countries of origin of children of immigrants. Even with the rather crude ethnic categories available, however, differences

Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×

among children of immigrants in their family resources and school experiences were noted. Other studies have shown that there are distinct differences depending on country of origin within both Hispanic and Asian immigrant populations. Future studies should examine differences in family resources and in the school experiences of children from different countries.

The data in this chapter also suggest that children of immigrants are less likely than children of native-born parents to attend early childhood programs. Children of immigrants and children of native-born families, however, differ in family background characteristics, such as parental education and economic well-being, which can influence their attendance at early childhood programs. An important question is whether differences in attendance at early childhood programs persist once these factors are taken into account.

Similarly, the data in this chapter suggest that poor children of immigrants are less likely to attend Head Start than poor children of native-born parents. Children of immigrants are making up an increasing proportion of the school-aged population. As shown, many children of immigrants face economic disadvantages. Head Start is the primary program aimed at helping disadvantaged children prepare for formal schooling. More information is needed on the extent to which children of immigrants have access to Head Start programs. Information is also needed on the extent to which immigrant parents who are eligible for Head Start do not enroll their children in a program and why.

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Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
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Hofferth, S.L., J. West, R. Henke, and P. Kaufman 1994 Access to Early Childhood Programs for Children at Risk. NCES 93-372. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics.

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Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
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Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
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APPENDIX 7A: THE 1996 NATIONAL HOUSEHOLD EDUCATION SURVEY

The 1996 National Household Education Survey (NHES:96) is a telephone survey conducted for the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, by Westat. Data collection took place from January through April 1996. The sample was selected using list-assisted, random digit dialing methods. Adjustments were made so that the totals were consistent with the total number of persons in all (telephone and nontelephone) households. The sample is thus nationally representative of all civilian noninstitutionalized persons in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Data were collected using computer-assisted telephone interviewing technology.

The Parent and Family Involvement in Education (PFI) component of the NHES:96, which is the basis of this chapter, employed a sample of children ages 3 through grade 12. Up to three instruments were used to collect data on the school and family experiences of these children. A household screener, administered to an adult member of the household, was used to determine whether any children of the appropriate ages or grades lived in the household, to collect information on each household member, and to identify the appropriate parent/guardian respondent for the sampled child. For sampling purposes, children residing in the household were grouped into younger children (age 3 through grade 5) and older children (grades 6 through 12). One younger child and one older child from each household could have been sampled for the NHES:96. If the household contained more than one younger child or more than one older child, one from each category was randomly sampled as an interview subject. An interview was conducted with the parent/guardian most knowledgeable about the subject child regarding the care and education of the child. Following the interview and receipt of parental permission, another interview was conducted with youth in grades 6 through 12. Because the focus of this chapter is the educational experiences of children 3 to 8 years old, only information from the household screener and the parent/guardian interview was used.

Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
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Response Rates

The NHES:96 survey completed screeners with 55,838 households, of which 19,337 contained a child sampled for the PFI component. The response rate for the screener was 69.9 percent. The completion rate for the interview with parents of children ages 3 through grade 12 was 89.4 percent. Thus, the overall response rate for the interview with parents of students ages 3 through grade 12 was 62.5 percent (the product of the screener response rate and the parent interview completion rate). This chapter is based on a subset of the total PFI population: children 3 to 8 years old. The unweighted number of cases included in this analysis is 7,717. Of these, 1,178 are children of immigrants.

For the NHES:96, item nonresponse (the failure to complete some of the items in an otherwise completed interview) was very low. The item nonresponse rates for most variables used in this chapter were less than 2 percent. Items with missing responses (i.e., don't know, refused, or not ascertained) were imputed using a hot-deck9 procedure. As a result, no missing values remain.

Description of Variables

A number of variables used in this chapter were derived by combining information from two or more questions in the NHES:96. The derivation of such variables is described in this section. The NHES:96 files contain a few composite variables (such as language usually spoken at home by parent(s) and education of most educated parent in the household). Composite variables included in the NHES:96 file are not described. See the NHES:96 User's Manual (Collins et al., 1997) for copies of the screener, survey instruments, and a description of the composite variables included in the file.

Immigrant Status

The screener to NHES:96 asked if everyone in the household was born in one of the 50 states or the District of Columbia. If the

9  

 A hot-deck procedure involves matching on selected variables and randomly selecting a subset that comes close.

Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×

answer was no, the screener respondent was asked in what country each person was born. On the NHES:96 file this information was coded into three categories: (1) 50 states or the District of Columbia; (2) U.S. territories: Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, U.S. Virgin Islands, Mariana Islands, or Solomon Islands; and (3) some other country. Linking the person numbers10 of the child's parents to the person numbers of the household members, the birthplace of each parent was established. Parents were classified as native born if they were born in the United States or one of its territories. They were classified as foreign born if they were born elsewhere. A similar procedure was followed to determine whether the subject children were born in the United States or one of its territories or in another country.

Children were classified as being children of immigrants if at least one of their parents was born in a country other than the United States or one of its territories. No information was available on parents not living in the household. For children not living with both their biological parents, there could be some misassignment of children to nonimmigrant status. For example, if children had a foreign-born father and an American mother but the father was no longer in their household, the children would be misclassified as children of native-born parents.

Number of Parents

The NHES:96 asked respondents the relationship of each household member to the subject child. If a mother was identified, the respondent was asked whether the mother was the birth mother, adoptive mother, stepmother, or foster mother. A parallel question was asked about the father in the household. This information was used to classify children as living in two-parent families with both biological parents, living in other two-parent families, or living in single-parent families. Children not living with either parent were excluded from the analyses.

10  

 The survey gave each person in a household a distinct number, which is used to distinguish easily between members of a household.

Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×

Number of Siblings and other Relatives in Household

These indicators were created by examining the relationship of each household member to the subject child. Simple counters were created that increased by one each time the appropriate relationship (sibling, grandparent, other relative) was identified. The counter of the number of siblings present in the household was topcoded at three or more. The number of grandparents and the number of other relatives were recoded into dichotomous variables that took a value of zero if no such relative was present and a value of one otherwise.

Poverty Measure

The poverty measure presented in this chapter was developed by combining information about household composition and household income. In the NHES:96, household income was collected in increments of $5,000; however, exact income to the nearest $1,000 was also collected if the household's poverty status was ambiguous based on the increment reported. A household's size and income were compared to the poverty thresholds provided by the Bureau of the Census. A household is considered poor if:

  • the number of household members is two and household income is $10,259 or less;

  • the number of household members is three and household income is $12,158 or less;

  • the number of household members is four and household income is $16,000 or less;

  • the number of household members is five and household income is $18,408 or less;

  • the number of household members is six and household income is $21,000 or less;

  • the number of household members is seven and household income is $24,000 or less;

  • the number of household members is eight and household income is $26,237 or less; or

  • the number of household members is nine or more and household income is $31,280 or less.

Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×

This poverty measure results in 26 percent of children ages 3 to 8 years being classified as living in poverty in the NHES:96. This percentage is similar to traditional measures of poverty (Saluter, 1996).

Receipt of Federal Assistance

Respondents were asked: ''In the past 12 months, has your family received funds or services from any of the following programs? ... (a) Women, Infants, and Children, or WIC? (b) Food stamps? (c) AFDC or Aid to Families with Dependent Children?" Respondents who answered yes to any of the three sources of assistance were classified as having received federal assistance in the past 12 months.

Parental Involvement at School

The NHES:96 asked about four types of school activities that parents could participate in during the school year. The activities are typical of those available in most schools: attendance at a general school meeting, attendance at a regularly scheduled parent-teacher conference, attendance at a school or class event, and serving as a volunteer at school. Two question formats were used to ask respondents about attendance at a general school meeting. Half of the sample was asked a single question, while the other half was asked two questions about different types of school meetings. The single question asked about attendance at a general school meeting—for example, an open house, a back-to-school night, or a meeting of a parent-teacher organization. The two questions asked about attendance at an open house or back-to-school night and attendance at a meeting of a parent-teacher or parent-teacher-student organization. To create a single variable about attendance at a school meeting, the two items asked in the second set were combined.

The indicator of parental involvement was created by counting the number of school activities that an adult in the household had participated in. The indicator ranges from zero (parent or other adult in the household participated in none of the four activities) to four (a parent or other adult participated in all four

Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×

activities). As noted in the text, parents were said to have low involvement in their children's schools if they had done none or only one of the four activities. They were categorized as having moderate involvement if they had done two of the activities. And they were categorized as having high involvement if they had participated in at least three of the four activities.

Child Gets Mostly A's

If parents reported that their children received mostly A's in school, this dichotomous variable was assigned a value of one. If parents reported that their children received mostly B's, C's, D's, or F's in school, the variable was assigned a value of zero. Some children attended schools that did not give letter grades. For these children, if parents reported that their children's work was excellent, the children were coded as receiving mostly A's; otherwise, the children received a value of zero on this variable.

Child Participates in Extracurricular Activities

Parents of children in kindergarten through grade 5 were asked whether their child had participated in any school activities such as team sports, band, chorus, or safety patrol. They were also asked whether during the school year the child had participated in any activities outside school, such as music lessons, church or temple youth group, scouting, or organized team sports, like soccer. If parents reported yes to either of these questions, the child was said to have participated in extracurricular activities; otherwise, the child was said not to have participated.

Problems in School

This variable was created by combining answers to three different questions. Parents of children attending early childhood programs were asked if a teacher or provider had contacted them because of any problems that the child was having there. Parents of children in kindergarten and above were asked two questions. The first was whether a teacher had contacted them this year about any behavioral problems the child was having. The second

Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×

was whether a teacher had contacted them this year about any problems with schoolwork that the child was having. Children were said to have problems if their parents said yes to any of these questions. Otherwise, they were said to have not had any problems at school this year. Children not enrolled in school were not included in analyses of this variable.

Appendixes 7a-1 Through 7a-5 Follow

Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×

TABLE 7A-1 Percentage of Children with Selected Personal and Family Characteristics by Immigrant Status and Child's Race and Ethnicity: Children Ages 3 to 8, 1996

Characteristic

Total: Children Ages 3-8

Children of Immigrants

Total

Native-Born

Total (thousands)

22,959

3,213

2,782

Child's Characteristics

 

Age

 

3 to 4 years

34%

36%

38%

4 to 5 years

33

35

36

7 to 8 years

33

29

26

Sex

 

Male

51

52

54

Female

49

48

46

Race/ethnicity

 

White, non-Hispanic

65

26

27

Black, non-Hispanic

16

9

9

Hispanic

15

54

53

Asian

1

7

7

Other

3

4

4

Family Composition

 

Number of parents

 

Two biological parents

65

77

77

Other two-parent family

8

4

4

One-parent family

28

19

19

Number of siblings

 

None

17

14

14

One

43

39

40

Two

26

27

27

Three or more

15

19

19

Presence of grandparents

 

None

94

93

92

One or more

6

7

8

Presence of other relatives

 

None

94

91

91

One or more

6

9

9

Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×

 

Children of Immigrants

Characteristic

Foreign-Born

Hispanic

Asian

White

Total (thousands)

430

1,734

239

837

Child's Characteristics

 

 

 

 

Age

 

 

 

 

3 to 4 years

21%

37%

41%

30%

4 to 5 years

34

36

31

38

7 to 8 years

45

27

28

31

Sex

 

 

 

 

Male

40

55

43

49

Female

60

45

57

51

Race/ethnicity

 

 

 

 

White, non-Hispanic

22

0

0

100

Black, non-Hispanic

5

0

0

0

Hispanic

60

100

0

0

Asian

10

0

100

0

Other

3

0

0

0

Family Composition

 

 

 

 

Number of parents

 

 

 

 

Two biological parents

77

72

88

88

Other two-parent family

6

4

3

4

One-parent family

17

24

9

8

Number of siblings

 

 

 

 

None

15

11

26

16

One

35

33

36

51

Two

33

31

28

24

Three or more

17

26

11

9

Presence of grandparents

 

 

 

 

None

98

94

82

95

One or more

2

6

18

5

Presence of other relatives

 

 

 

 

None

89

90

90%

95

One or more

11

10

10

5

Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×

Characteristic

Total: Children Ages 3-8

Children of Immigrants

Total

Native-Born

Human and Financial Capital

 

 

 

Education of most educated parent in household

 

 

 

Less than high school

9%

23%

22%

High school graduate or equivalent

31

27

28

Vocational/technical school or some college

31

21

21

College graduate

16

16

16

Graduate or professional school

12

14

13

Language parents usually speak at home

 

 

 

Both/only English

91

43

45

One English/one non-English

2

9

9

Both/only non-English

8

49

45

Language child speaks at home

 

 

 

English

92

50

52

Spanish

5

33

32

Spanish/English equally

2

9

8

Other language

1

8

7

Household income

 

 

 

< $15,000

24

32

31

$15,000-$25,000

16

22

21

$25,000-$35,000

14

11

11

$35,000-$50,000

18

13

14

$50,000-$75,000

15

11

11

< $75,000

12

11

11

Household income below poverty threshold

26

36

35

Received federal assistance (WIC, food stamps, or AFDC) in past 12 months

28

37

38

Received WIC in past 12 months

16

24

25

Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×

 

Children of Immigrants

Characteristic

Foreign-Born

Hispanic

Asian

White

Human and Financial Capital

 

 

 

 

Education of most educated parent in household

 

 

 

 

Less than high school

30%

36%

4%

5%

High school graduate or equivalent

23

34

22

19

Vocational/technical school or some college

15

18

19

24

College graduate

16

7

27

26

Graduate or professional school

16

4

28

27

Language parents usually speak at home

 

 

 

 

Both/only English

25

18

26

80

One English/one non-English

6

11

6

8

Both/only non-English

69

71

68

12

Language child speaks at home

 

 

 

 

English

35

23

45

88

Spanish

37

59

0

2

Spanish/English equally

15

17

1

1

Other language

13

1

54

9

Household income

 

 

 

 

< $15,000

35

45

30

11

$15,000-$25,000

31

29

12

13

$25,000-$35,000

10

11

7

13

$35,000-$50,000

9

8

19

18

$50,000-$75,000

9

4

15

21

< $75,000

6

3

18

24

Household income below poverty threshold

45

53

32

11

Received federal assistance (WIC, food stamps, or AFDC) in past 12 months

30

52

26

13

Received WIC in past 12 months

18

35

17

5

Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×

Characteristic

Total: Children Ages 3-8

Children of Immigrants

Total

Native-Born

Received food stamps in past 12 months

21

25

26

Received AFDC in past 12 months

13

11

12

Home ownership

 

 

 

Own home

57

45

49

Rent home

38

50

46

Other Arrangement

5

5

5

 

Children of Native-Born

Characteristic

Total

White

Black

Hispanic

Total (thousands)

19,746

14,166

3,326

1,652

Child's Characteristics

 

 

 

 

Age

 

 

 

 

3 to 4 years

33%

32%

35%

39%

4 to 5 years

33

33

33

32

7 to 8 years

34

35

32

30

Sex

 

 

 

 

Male

51

51

48

54

Female

49

49

52

46

Race/ethnicity

 

 

 

 

White, non-Hispanic

72

100

0

0

Black, non-Hispanic

17

0

100

0

Hispanic

8

0

0

100

Asian

<1

0

0

0

Other

3

0

0

0

Family Composition

 

 

 

 

Number of parents

 

 

 

 

Two biological parents

63

73

29

49

Other two-parent family

8

9

6

10

One-parent family

29

19

65

42

Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×

 

Children of Immigrants

 

Foreign-Born

Hispanic

Asian

White

Received food stamps in past 12 months

17

37

17

7

Received AFDC in past 12 months

7

16

6

4

Home ownership

 

 

 

 

Own home

22

35

50

67

Rent home

77

58

49

30

Other Arrangement

1

7

1

3

 

Children of Native-Born

Characteristic

Total

White

Black

Hispanic

Number of siblings

 

 

 

 

None

17

16

21

16

One

43

45

36

39

Two

26

26

25

29

Three or more

14

13

17

15

Presence of grandparents

 

 

 

 

None

94

96

88

91

One or more

6

4

12

9

Presence of other relatives

 

 

 

 

None

95

97

85

91

One or more

5

3

15

9

Human and Financial Capital

 

 

 

 

Education of most educated parent in household

 

 

 

 

Less than high school

7

4

14

17

High school graduate or equivalent

32

29

41

34

Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×

 

Children of Native-Born

Characteristic

Total

White

Black

Hispanic

Vocational/technical school or some college

33%

33%

33%

34%

College graduate

16

19

8

10

Graduate or professional school

12

15

4

6

Language parents usually speak at home

 

 

 

 

Both/only English

99

100

100

87

One English/one non-English

0

0

0

3

Both/only non-English

1

0

0

10

Language child speaks at home

 

 

 

 

English

99

100

100

89

Spanish

1

0

0

6

Spanish/English equally

1

0

0

5

Other language

0

0

0

0

Household income

 

 

 

 

< $15,000

23

15

52

36

$15,000-$25,000

16

15

16

20

$25,000-$35,000

15

16

11

14

$35,000-$50,000

19

21

12

15

$50,000-$75,000

16

19

5

10

< $75,000

12

15

3

7

Household income below poverty threshold

24

15

52

36

Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×

 

Children of Native-Born

Characteristic

Total

White

Black

Hispanic

Received federal assistance (WIC, food stamps, or AFDC) in past 12 months

27%

18%

55%

42%

Received WIC in past 12 months

14

10

26

21

Received food stamps in past 12 months

20

12

48

35

Received AFDC in past 12 months

14

8

34

22

Home ownership

 

 

 

 

Own home

59

70

26

39

Rent home

36

26

67

55

Other arrangement

5

4

8

6

NOTE: Hispanic children are designated as such and are not included in any of the other racial or ethnic categories. The Total columns include children of other races and ethnicities not shown. Because of rounding, percentages may not sum to 100.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1996 National Household Education Survey.

Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×

TABLE 7A-2 Percentage of Children with Selected Types of Social Capital by Immigrant Status: Children Ages 3 to 8, 1996

Characteristic

Total: Children Ages 3-8

Children of Immigrants

Total

Native-Born

Total (thousands)

22,959

3,213

2,782

Family Involvement at Home

 

 

 

In the past week, someone in family:

 

 

 

Taught child letters, words, or numbersa

93%

92%

93%

Taught child songs or musica

76

73

73

Took child along while doing errandsa

95

91

90

Number of times read to childb:

 

 

 

Not at all

7

11

11

Once or twice

20

26

25

Three or more times

28

25

26

Every day

44

37

38

Told child a story

77

76

77

Worked on arts and crafts project with child

72

65

66

Played a game, sport, or exercised with child

92

86

87

Involved child in household chores

95

86

86

Worked on a project with child like building, making, or fixing somethingc

67

56

58

In the past month, someone in the family:

 

 

 

Visited the library with child

44

38

38

Went to a play, concert, or other live show with the child

30

26

27

Visited an art gallery, museum, or historical attraction with child

20

20

20

Visited a zoo or aquarium with child

17

23

23

Talked with child about family history or ethnic heritage

52

55

54

Attended an event with child sponsored by a community, ethnic, or religious group

50

41

41

Attended an athletic or sporting event in which child was not a player

33

22

24

Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×

 

Children of Immigrants

Characteristic

Foreign-Born

Hispanic

Asian

White

Total (thousands)

430

1,734

239

837

Family Involvement at Home

 

 

 

 

In the past week, someone in family:

 

 

 

 

Taught child letters, words, or numbersa

86%

90%

97%

94%

Taught child songs of musica

68

70

72

78

Took child along while doing errandsa

97

88

79

99

Number of times read to childb

 

 

 

 

Not at all

13

14

6

7

Once or twice

34

32

18

17

Three or more times

23

25

25

24

Every day

31

29

51

51

Told child a story

74

71

83

84

Worked on arts and crafts project with child

59

59

74

74

Played a game, sport, or exercised with child

82

81

92

94

Involved child in household chores

83

84

74

90

Worked on a project with child like building, making, or fixing somethingc

51

47

59

69

In the past month, someone in the family:

 

 

 

 

Visited the library with child

32

27

54

51

Went to a play, concert, or other live show with the child

21

21

34

33

Visited an art gallery, museum, or historical attraction with child

17

15

24

27

Visited a zoo or aquarium with child

21

20

32

26

Talked with child about family history or ethnic heritage

60

52

50

61

Attended an event with child sponsored by a community, ethnic, or religious group

39

35

38

51

Attended an athletic or sporting event in which child was not a player

12

18

19

30

Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×

 

 

Children of Immigrants

Characteristic

Total: Children 3-8 Years

Total

Native-Born

Family Involvement at School

 

 

 

Parents' involvement in schoold

 

 

 

Low

15%

17%

17%

Moderate

21

26

25

High

64

57

58

Parent attended a general school meeting

83

82

83

Parent attended class or school event

67

61

61

Parent volunteered at school

51

38

41

Parent attended parent-teacher conference

79

82

81

 

Children of Native-Born

Characteristic

Total

White

Black

Hispanic

Total (thousands)

19,746

14,166

3,326

1,652

Family Involvement at Home

 

 

 

 

In the past week, someone in family:

 

 

 

 

Taught child letters, words, or numbersa

94%

93%

96%

91%

Taught child songs or musica

76

76

83

69

Took child along while doing errandsa

95

96

94

94

Number of times read to childb:

 

 

 

 

Not at all

7

6

8

8

Once or twice

19

17

25

24

Three or more times

29

28

30

29

Every day

45

48

37

39

Told child a story

77

78

73

79

Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×

 

Children of Immigrants

 

Foreign-Born

Hispanic

Asian

White

Family Involvement at School

 

 

 

 

Parents' involvement in schoold

 

 

 

 

Low

17%

21%

13%

10%

Moderate

33

30

30

20

High

50

49

57

70

Parent attended a general school meeting

78

79

81

87

Parent attended class or school event

60

54

56

73

Parent volunteered at school

24

29

36

54

Parent attended parent-teacher conference

84

83

88

86

 

Children of Native-Born

Characteristic

Total

White

Black

Hispanic

Worked on arts and crafts project with child

73%

75%

66%

72%

Played a game, sport, or exercised with child

93

94

92

87

Involved child in household chores

96

97

95

92

Worked on a project with child like building, making, or fixing somethingc

68

70

63

67

In the past month, someone in the family:

 

 

 

 

Visited the library with child

45

47

40

39

Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×

 

Children of Native-Born

Characteristic

Total

White

Black

Hispanic

Went to a play, concert, or other live show with the child

30%

29%

36%

27%

Visited an art gallery, museum, or historical attraction with child

20

19

22

20

Visited a zoo or aquarium with child

16

14

23

21

Talked with child about family history or ethnic heritage

51

47

65

54

Attended an event with child sponsored by a community, ethnic, or religious group

51

52

52

43

Attended an athletic or sporting event in which child was not a player

35

36

33

27

Family Involvement at School

 

 

 

 

Parents' involvement in schoold

 

 

 

 

Low

15

13

21

17

Moderate

20

19

23

24

High

65

68

56

59

Parent attended a general school meeting

84

84

81

82

Parent attended class or school event

68

71

57

64

Parent volunteered at school

53

56

42

46

Parent attended parent-teacher conference

79

79

76

78

a Applies only to children not yet in first grade.

b Applies to children age 3 through grade 3.

c Applies to children in grades 1 and above.

d Applies to children enrolled in preschool programs or regular school.

NOTE: Hispanic children are designated as such and are not included in any of the other racial or ethnic categories. The Total columns include children of other races and ethnicities. Because of rounding, percentages may not sum to 100.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1996 National Household Education Survey.

Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×

Table 7A-3 Follows

Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×

TABLE 7A-3 Percentage of Children Enrolled in School and Selected Characteristics of Their Schools by Immigrant Status and Child's Race and Ethnicity: Children Ages 3 to 8, 1996

 

Total: Children Ages 3-8

Children of Immigrants

Characteristic

Total

Native-Born

Total (thousands)

22,959

3,213

2,782

Attends an early childhood programa

55%

41%

42%

Attends government-sponsored early childhood programb

33

45

44

Proportion of eligible children attending Head Starta,c

38

25

26

School Characteristicsd

 

 

 

Public school

 

 

 

Assigned

70

69

69

Chosen

17

16

16

Private school:

 

 

 

Religious affiliation

10

10

10

No religious affiliation

3

5

5

Size of school

 

 

 

<300 students

25

22

23

300-599

47

46

46

600-999

19

20

19

>1,000

9

13

11

Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×

 

Children of Immigrants

Characteristic

Foreign-Born

Hispanic

Asian

White

Total (thousands)

430

1,734

239

837

Attends an early childhood programa

27%

31%

35%

57%

Attends government-sponsored early childhood programb

e

76

e

19

Proportion of eligible children attending Head Starta,c

20

25

22

18

School Characteristicsd

 

 

 

 

Public school

 

 

 

 

Assigned

72

80

64

59

Chosen

17

15

16

13

Private school:

 

 

 

 

Religious affiliation

7

4

13

16

No religious affiliation

4

1

7

13

Size of school

 

 

 

 

< 300 students

14

16

42

31

300-599

43

47

34

47

600-999

20

20

16

17

> 1,000

23

17

8

5

Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×

 

Children of Native-Born

Characteristic

Total

White

Black

Hispanic

Total (thousands)

19,746

14,166

3,326

1,652

Attends an early childhood programa

58%

58%

66%

47%

Attends government-sponsored early childhood programb

32

23

58

46

Proportion of eligible children attending Head Starta,c

46

33

62

33

School Characteristicsd

 

 

 

 

Public school

 

 

 

 

Assigned

71

72

67

68

Chosen

17

14

25

22

Private school

 

 

 

 

Religious affiliation

10

11

6

10

No religious affiliation

3

3

3

< 1

Size of school

 

 

 

 

< 300 students

26

28

22

19

300-599

47

47

48

47

600-999

19

18

20

22

> 1,000

8

8

10

12

a Restricted to children not enrolled in kindergarten or higher grade.

b Restricted to children enrolled in an early childhood program.

c Estimate obtained by dividing the proportion of children enrolled in Head Start by the proportion of children whose household incomes were below the poverty threshold.

d Restricted to children enrolled in kindergarten or higher grade.

e Too few cases to reliably estimate.

NOTE: Hispanic children are designated as such and are not included in any of the other racial or ethnic categories. The Total columns include children of other races and ethnicities not shown. Because of rounding, percentages may not sum to 100.

SOURCE. U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1996 National Household Education Survey.

Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×

Table 7A-4 Follows

Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×

TABLE 7A-4 Percentage of Children by Their School Environments, Practices of Schools to Involve Their Parents, and by Immigrant Status and Child's Race and Ethnicity: Children Ages 3 to 8, 1996

 

Total: Children Ages 3-8

Children of Immigrants

Characteristic

Total

Native-Born

Total (thousands)

22,959

3,213

2,782

School Environmenta

 

 

 

Strongly agree that:

 

 

 

Teachers maintain discipline in classroom

52%

47%

48%

Principal maintains discipline in school

51

48

50

Teachers and students respect each other

45

38

40

School Practices

 

 

 

Strongly agree that:

 

 

 

School welcomes family's involvement

63

53

55

School makes involvement easya

56

45

47

School is understanding of needs of families who don't speak Englisha,c (Yes)

95

95

94

How often school provides newsletters, memos, or notices to all parents

 

 

 

0 times

5

8

8

1-2 times

8

9

9

3 or more times

87

82

82

How well school has been doing at:

 

 

 

Letting parent know how child is doing in school/program

 

 

 

Very well

68

71

70

Could do better

23

21

21

Doesn't do well

9

8

9

Helping parent understand developmental stages of children

 

 

 

Very well

53

57

56

Could do better

30

28

29

Doesn't do

17

15

15

Letting parent know of volunteer opportunities at school

 

 

 

Very well

73

67

67

Could do better

19

23

23

Doesn't do

8

10

10

Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×

 

Children of Immigrants

Characteristic

Foreign-Born

Hispanic

Asian

White

Total (thousands)

430

1,734

239

837

School Environmenta

 

 

 

 

Strong agree that:

 

 

 

 

Teachers maintain discipline in classroom

40%

36%

48%

62%

Principal maintains discipline in school

42

39

57

64

Teachers and students respect each other

33

30

37

52

School Practices

 

 

 

 

Strong agree that:

 

 

 

 

School welcomes family's involvement

40

39

60

70

School makes involvement easya

38

38

40

58

School is understanding of needs of families who don't speak Englisha,b (Yes)

99

97

95

c

How often school provides newsletters, memos, or notices to all parents

 

 

 

 

0 times

7

10

12

6

1-2 times

10

10

10

7

3 or more times

83

80

77

88

How well school has been doing at:

 

 

 

 

Letting parent know how child is doing in school/Program

 

 

 

 

Very well

76

73

61

68

Could do better

20

19

32

22

Doesn't do well

4

7

7

9

Helping parent understand development stages of children

 

 

 

 

Very well

64

64

53

49

Could do better

23

24

39

34

Doesn't do

13

12

8

17

Letting parent know of volunteer opportunities at school

 

 

 

 

Very well

72

64

60

74

Could do better

21

25

35

17

Doesn't do

7

11

5

9

Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×

 

Total: Children Ages 3-8

Children of Immigrants

Characteristic

Total

Native-Born

Providing information about how to help child with homeworka

 

 

 

Very well

54%

65%

63%

Could do better

29

25

26

Doesn't do

17

11

11

Providing information about why child is placed in particular groups or classesa

 

 

 

Very well

48

53

52

Could do better

24

21

21

Doesn't do

28

26

27

 

Children of Native-Born

Characteristic

Total

White

Black

Hispanic

Total (thousands)

19,746

14,166

3,326

1,652

School Environmenta

 

 

 

 

Strongly agree that:

 

 

 

 

Teachers maintain discipline in classroom

53%

55%

43%

49%

Principal maintains discipline in school

51

54

44

45

Teachers and students respect each other

46

48

36

44

School Practices

 

 

 

 

Strongly agree that:

 

 

 

 

School welcomes family's involvement

65

67

56

58

School makes involvement easya

57

60

49

52

Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×

 

Children of Immigrants

Characteristic

Foreign-Born

Hispanic

Asian

White

Providing information about how to help child with homeworka

 

 

 

 

Very well

73%

73%

58%

51%

Could do better

19

21

29

28

Doesn't do

8

6

13

17

Providing information about why child is placed in particular groups or classesa

 

 

 

 

Very well

61

57

43

51

Could do better

17

18

38

23

Doesn't do

21

24

20

26

 

Children of Native-Born

Characteristic

Total

White

Black

Hispanic

School is understanding of needs of families who don't speak Englisha,b (Yes)

c

c

c

c

How often school provides newsletters, memos, or notices to all parents

 

 

 

 

0 times

4%

4%

6%

7%

1-2 times

8

6

11

12

3 or more times

88

90

83

81

How well school has been doing at:

 

 

 

 

Letting parent know how child is doing in school/program

 

 

 

 

Very well

68

66

72

72

Could do better

23

24

21

20

Doesn't do well

9

9

7

8

Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×

 

Children of Native-Born

Characteristic

Total

White

Black

Hispanic

Helping parent understand developmental stages of children

 

 

 

 

Very well

52%

50%

58%

52%

Could do better

31

32

25

32

Doesn't do

17

18

17

16

Letting parent know of volunteer opportunities at school

 

 

 

 

Very well

74

75

72

74

Could do better

18

18

20

16

Doesn't do

8

8

9

10

Providing information about how to help child with homeworka

 

 

 

 

Very well

53

50

59

57

Could do better

30

33

22

24

Doesn't do

17

17

19

19

Providing information about why child is placed in particular groups or classesa

 

 

 

 

Very well

47

45

51

58

Could do better

25

27

19

20

Doesn't do

28

28

31

22

a Applies only to children in grade 1 and above.

b Only asked if household respondent spoke a language other than English.

c Too few cases to reliably estimate.

NOTE: Hispanic children are designated as such and are not included in any of the other racial or ethnic categories. The Total columns include children of other races and ethnicities not shown. Because of rounding, percentages may not add to 100.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1996 National Household Education Survey.

Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×

Table 7A-5 Follows

Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×

TABLE 7A-5 Percentage of Children with Selected Student Outcomes by Immigrant Status and Children's Race and Ethnicity: Children Ages 3 to 8, 1996

 

Total: Children Ages 3-8

Children of Immigrants

Characteristic

Total

Native-Born

Total (thousands)

22,959

3,213

2,782

Student Outcome

 

 

 

Child gets mostly A'sa

58%

54%

54%

Child enjoys schoola

50

45

46

Child participates in extracurricular activitiesb

74

63

65

Child experienced problems at schoolb

29

25

26

Child ever repeated a gradeb

5

5

5

 

Children of Native-Born

Characteristic

Total

White

Black

Hispanic

Total (thousands)

19,746

14,166

3,326

1,652

Student Outcome

 

 

 

 

Child gets mostly A'sa

58%

43%

38%

40%

Child enjoys schoola

51

52

47

48

Child participates in extracurricular activitiesb

76

79

71

57

Child experienced problems at schoolb

29

27

39

31

Child ever repeated a gradeb

5

4

6

7

NOTE: Hispanic children are designated as such and are not included in any of the other racial or ethnic categories. The Total columns include children of other races and ethnicities not shown. Because of rounding, percentages may not sum to 100.

a Applies to children in grades 1 and above.

b Applies to children in kindergarten and higher grades.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1996 National Household Education Survey.

Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×

 

Children of Immigrants

Characteristic

Foreign-Born

Hispanic

Asian

White

Total (thousands)

430

1,734

239

837

Student Outcome

 

 

 

 

Child gets mostly A'sa

53%

41%

63%

51%

Child enjoys schoola

37

37

51

56

Child participates in extracurricular activitiesb

56

49

78

79

Child experienced problems at schoolb

24

30

17

22

Child ever repeated a gradeb

6

8

3

3

Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×
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Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×
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×
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Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×
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×
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×
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×
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×
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Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×
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Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×
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×
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Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×
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×
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Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×
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×
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Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×
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Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×
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Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
×
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×
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Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
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Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
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Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
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Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
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Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
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Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
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Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
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Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
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Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
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Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
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Suggested Citation:"7 Educational Profile of 3- to 8-Year-Old Children and Immigrants." National Research Council. 1999. Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9592.
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Immigrant children and youth are the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. population, and so their prospects bear heavily on the well-being of the country. Children of Immigrants represents some of the very best and most extensive research efforts to date on the circumstances, health, and development of children in immigrant families and the delivery of health and social services to these children and their families.

This book presents new, detailed analyses of more than a dozen existing datasets that constitute a large share of the national system for monitoring the health and well-being of the U.S. population. Prior to these new analyses, few of these datasets had been used to assess the circumstances of children in immigrant families. The analyses enormously expand the available knowledge about the physical and mental health status and risk behaviors, educational experiences and outcomes, and socioeconomic and demographic circumstances of first- and second-generation immigrant children, compared with children with U.S.-born parents.

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