Immigrant Student Investigation in PISA 2006: A Call for a More Nuanced Examination

Author(s):

Steve SongPeter Robert

Conference:

ECER 2009

Network:

9. Assessment, Evaluation, Testing and Measurement

Format:

Paper

Session Information

09 SES 06 C, International Large-Scale Assessments: Heterogeneity Issues

Paper Session

Time:

2009-09-29

10:30-12:00

Room:

HG, Elise Richter

Chair:

Renate Schulz-Zander

Contribution

Reports using past PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) 2006 data have suggested that in many of the OECD countries, immigrant students are underperforming in comparison to their non-immigrant peers. In general, with the exception to few countries like Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, immigrant students have, on average, shown lower math, reading, and science scores at age 15 than their non-immigrant counterparts (OECD, 2006). According to the European Commission, students of immigrant backgrounds are, on average, one or two years behind their native-born peers (Eurydice, 2004). In addition, in some countries, such as Austria, Germany, and New Zealand, it has been cited that the second-generation immigrant students even underperform first-generation arrivals (OECD, 2006). With the rapidly increasing number of immigrant students throughout Europe, these disturbing findings have drawn much attention to how well various immigrant-receiving countries are addressing the needs of their immigrant student population. But how accurate are these findings? Do these results really help scholars and policymakers compare across various OECD countries, or are there some weaknesses in the way in which immigrant student data are gathered and analyzed to make some countries appear more or less effective in their incorporation of their immigrant-student population? The purpose of this paper is to highlight some notable measurement shortcomings in the way in which OECD has investigated the outcomes of immigrant students and to suggest possible remedies.

Method

In our paper, we use the data available from OECD's PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) 2006.

Expected Outcomes

In this paper, we have focused on PISA and their analysis of immigrant students in many of the major immigrant-receiving countries. Specifically, we have argued that there are three significant weaknesses in which PISA 2006 data were collected and analyzed to give an incomplete or biased picture of how immigrant students in various OECD countries are faring. These weaknesses stem from 1) how immigrant students are selected or categorized, 2) the language in which the subject tests were administered, and 3) the way in which the first and second generation immigrant students are grouped. We address each of these concerns and suggest possible ways of addressing them.

References

Central Statistics Office Ireland. (2006). Census 2006: Preliminary Report. Dublin: Central Statistics Office. Collier, V. P. (1987). Age and rate of acquisition of second language for academic purpose. TESOL Quarterly, 21(4), 617-641. Crul, M., & Vermeulen, H. (2004). Immigration, Education of the Turkish Second Generation in Five European Nations: A Comparative Study. Paper presented at the Luxembourg LIS/Maxwell Immigration Conference, Luxembourg. Cummins, J. (2000). Language, power, and pedagogy: Bilingual children in the crossfire. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters. Cummins, J., & Nakajima, K. (1987). Age of arrival, length of residence, and interdependence of literacy skills among Japanese immigrant students. In B. Harley, P. Allen, J. Cummins & M. Swain (Eds.), The development of bilingual proficiency (Vol. III). Toronto: Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. Eurydice. (2004). Integrating Immigrant Children into Schools in Europe. Brussels Eurydice European Unit. Hakuta, K., Butler, Y. G., & Witt, D. (2000). How long does it take English learners to attain proficiency? Berkeley, CA: The University of California Linguistic Minority Research Institute. Klesmer, H. (1984). Assessment and teacher perception of ESL student achievement. English Quarterly, 26(3), 8-11. Levels, M., & Dronkers, J. (2005). Differences in educational performance between first and second-generation migrant pupils from various regions and that of native pupils in Europe and Pacific Rim. Paper presented at the ECSR Conference. Levels, M., & Dronkers, J. (2008). Educational performance of native and immigrant children from various countries of origin. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 31(8), 1404-1425. Levels, M., Dronkers, J., & Kraaykamp, G. (2008). Immigrant children's educational achievement in Western countries: Origin, destination, and community effects on mathematical performance. American Sociological Review, 73(October), 835-853. Marks, G. N. (2005). Accounting for immigrant non-immigrant differences in reading and mathematics in twenty countries. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 28, 925-946. Nordin, M. (2006). Ethnic segregation and educational attainment in Sweden. Lund University. OECD. (2006). Where Immigrant Students Succeed: A Comparative Review of Performance and Engagement in PISA 2003. Paris: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. OECD. (2007). PISA 2006: Science Competencies for Tomorrow's World. Paris: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Park, H. (2007). Educational Gap between Immigrant and Native Students in Europe: The Role of Grade. Paper presented at the European Forum. Park, H., & Sandefur, G. D. (2004). Cross-National Variation in Performance Gaps in Reading Literacy between Native and Immigrant Children: A Comparative Analysis of 14 OECD Countries. Center for Demography and Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Rangvid, B. S. (2006). Sources of Immigrants' Underachievement: Results from PISA--Copenhagen. European University Institute. Riphahn, R. T. (2003). Cohort Effects in the Educational Attainment of Second Generation Immigrants in Germany: An Analysis of Census Data. Journal of Population Economics, 16(711-737). Schnepf, S. V. (2006). Immigrants’ educational disadvantage: An examination across ten countries and three surveys. Journal of Population Economics, 20(3), 527-545. Spolsky, B., & Shohamy, E. G. (1999). The languages of Israel: Policy, ideology, and practice. Clevedon, [UK] ; Buffalo: Multilingual Matters. Statistics Sweden. (2007). Population Statistics. Stockholm: Statistics Sweden. Westin, C. (2006). Sweden: Restrictive immigration policy and multiculturalism. Washington, D.C.: Migration Policy Institute.

Author Information

Steve Song

University College Dublin

The Geary Institute

Dublin

Peter Robert

University College Dublin, Ireland (Republic of)

Update Modus of this Database

The current conference programme can be browsed in the conference management system (conftool) and, closer to the conference, in the conference app.
This database will be updated with the conference data after ECER.

Search the ECER Programme

Search for keywords and phrases in "Text Search"
Restrict in which part of the abstracts to search in "Where to search"
Search for authors and in the respective field.
For planning your conference attendance, please use the conference app, which will be issued some weeks before the conference and the conference agenda provided in conftool.
If you are a session chair, best look up your chairing duties in the conference system (Conftool) or the app.