Immigration presents both challenges and opportunities that affect students' academic achievement. Over the course of five years, varying academic trajectories were identified for recent immigrant students from Central America, China, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Mexico. Latent class growth curve analysis revealed that although some students performed at high or improving levels over time, others showed diminishing performance. Multinomial logistic regressions identified significant group differences in academic trajectories, particularly between the high-achieving youth and the other groups. Consistent with ecological systems theory, school characteristics (a: school segregation rate; b: school poverty rate; and c: student perceptions of school violence), family characteristics (a-separation from mother and father; b-maternal education; and c-paternal employment), and individual characteristics (a-academic English proficiency; b-academic engagement; c-psychological symptoms; d-gender) were associated with different trajectories of academic performance. © The Author(s) 2010.

policy and practice implications academic pathways immigrants Adolescence

perception China educational status immigrant logistic regression analysis poverty human sex difference systems theory violence controlled study Central America Mexico Dominican Republic academic achievement Haiti school child male female juvenile Article employment status human experiment growth curve Personality normal human English as a second language family assessment Child