Thriving, catching up, falling behind: Immigrant and refugee children’s kindergarten competencies and later academic achievement.

Immigrant and refugee children and adolescents form a growing socially, culturally, and economically diverse group with the potential for wide-ranging adaptation outcomes. The goal of the study was to examine whether developmental competencies (social-emotional and academic) and sociodemographic disparities (e.g., SES and migration class) identified in kindergarten forecast the academic achievement trajectories of first- and second-generation immigrant and refugee children, from childhood to adolescence. The study used a retrospective, longitudinal, population-based design by making use of linked, individual-level administrative data from four sources (e.g., Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada and Ministry of Education; IRCC, 2014 and BC MED, 2014) to identify a study cohort of immigrant and refugee children in British Columbia, Canada (N = 9,216). We utilized an analytical approach (group-based trajectory modeling) that allowed us to capture heterogeneity in the Grade 4 to Grade 10 academic (literacy and numeracy) trajectories. The resulting literacy and numeracy achievement trajectories were wide-ranging—some children thriving, some catching up, and some falling behind over time. Children’s developmental competencies assessed in kindergarten (literacy, numeracy, and social-emotional) were found to predict later trajectory group membership in significant and, at times, interacting ways. Trajectory group membership also differed by migration class (refugee/immig...
Source: Journal of Educational Psychology - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research