Can Immigrant Optimism Overcome the "English Learner" Label? Ever-English Learners’ Journeys From Kindergarten to College

• In Event: Intersectional Efforts of Supporting Latina/o/x and Black Youth Educational Advantages and Resiliency

Abstract

Historically, English learner (EL) academic achievement and attainment research focuses on those who are EL-identified in high school; here we expand our focus to capture both current- and former-EL identified students, or ever-ELs. A subset of bilingual, immigrant-origin, in theory ever-ELs should benefit from the disproportionately high expectations their foreign-born parents hold of them (Kao & Tienda 1995). In this study, we use multilevel models and longitudinal, statewide administrative data to examine whether an immigrant advantage exists in ever-ELs college-going outcomes. We find limited evidence of an immigrant advantage; instead, we suggest that systemic and structural challenges associated with the EL label may stand in ever-ELs’ postsecondary pathways and impede full realization of their immigrant potential.

Authors

• Rebecca M. Callahan, University of Vermont

• Lauren Schudde, University of Texas at Austin

• Kimberly Pack-Cosme, University of Texas at Austin