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Education Outcomes for BC’s Immigrant
ChildrenImmigrant Health and Well Being Workshop‐
Constance Milbrath & Martin GuhnMetropolis Conference
March 12-15, 2014Gatineau, Quebec
Creating knowledge to help children thrive
Educational, health and well-being outcomes of children born to
immigrant and refugee families in British Columbia*Research Questions
What is the unique influence of different heritage cultural/national origins on a child’s developmental health at Kindergarten, and on a child’s long term developmental successes or challenges in their educational trajectory, physical health, and mental health, once family and neighbourhood SES are taken into account?
Do first and second generation immigrant children show better or worse academic success, physical health, and mental health than non-immigrant and/or children born in Canada to second and third generation immigrant parents?
*Funded by CIHR
EDI-Education-Health-CIC Landing files
Health (Medical/Health Services, Hospital Care) – Child health & mental health data
Education
18 years Grade
12
Vital Statistics (Births)
EDI FSA FSA Provincial Exams
Provincial Exams &
GPA
Birth 5 yearsK
9 yearsGrade 4
12 years Grade 7
15 years Grade 10
Citizen and Immigration Canada (Landing Files) – Parent/Family data at landing
BC Lower Mainland Study Populations*
3 Birth Cohorts 1990-1999 Ever Designated ELL**
EDI Cohorts (1999-2013) Ever Designated ELL**
*10 BC School Districts**English Language Learner the new term replacing English as a Second Language
EDI Subscales Predictors/OutcomesPhysical Health & Well-Being• Physical readiness for
school• Physical independence• Gross and fine motor skills
Social Competence• Overall social competence• Responsibility & respect• Approaches to learning• Readiness to explore new
things
Emotional Maturity• Prosocial and helping behaviour• Anxious and fearful behaviour• Aggressive behaviour• Hyperactive and inattention
Language and Cognitive• Basic literacy• Interest in literacy/numeracy
& memory• Advanced literacy• Basic numeracy
Communication Skills
Ethno-Cultural Early Development Instrument Patterns
-0.4
-0.3
-0.2
-0.1
0.0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
Ave
rag
ete
ac
he
rra
tin
gs
(sta
nd
ard
ized
)
English (only) speaking children(n=89,017)
-0.4
-0.3
-0.2
-0.1
0.0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
Ave
rag
ete
ac
he
rra
tin
gs
(sta
nd
ard
ized
)
Cantonese-speakingchildren(n=4,688)
-0.4
-0.3
-0.2
-0.1
0.0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
Ave
rag
ete
ac
he
rra
tin
gs
(sta
nd
ard
ized
)
Mandarin-speakingchildren(n=3,141)
-0.4
-0.3
-0.2
-0.1
0.0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
Ave
rag
ete
ac
he
rra
tin
gs
(sta
nd
ard
ized
)
Punjabi-speakingchildren(n=7,193)
-0.4
-0.3
-0.2
-0.1
0.0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
Ave
rag
ete
ac
he
rra
tin
gs
(sta
nd
ard
ized
)
Tagalog-speaking children(n=1,879)
EDI subscale patterns for5 different ethno-cultural groups of
Kindergarten childrenin British Columbia, Canada
bilingual childrenmonolingual children
Physicalhealth &wellbeing
Socialcompetence
Emotionalmaturity
Cognitivedevelopment
Physicalhealth &wellbeing
Socialcompetence
Emotionalmaturity
Cognitivedevelopment
Physicalhealth &wellbeing
Socialcompetence
Emotionalmaturity
Cognitivedevelopment
Physicalhealth &wellbeing
Socialcompetence
Emotionalmaturity
Cognitivedevelopment
Physicalhealth &wellbeing
Socialcompetence
Cognitivedevelopment
E
Research SummaryHow is the ethno-cultural language background of children related to different patterns in developmental outcomes? Do such differences reflect cultural differences in parenting styles and values?Our research indicates that kindergarten children from different language backgrounds have distinctly different patterns of teacher-rated developmental outcomes on the EDI.
Grade 4 FS
A Reading
Grade 7 FS
A Reading
Grade 10 Englis
h
Grade 12 Englis
h-0.6
-0.4
-0.2
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
Reading & English Skills Trajectories for 1990-1992 Birth Cohorts
English Only (N=22,835)Cantonese (N=1180)Mandarin (N=444)Punjabi (N=2422)Filipino (N=643)Vietnamese (N=532)All Languages (N=33,847)
Grade of Assessment
Z Sc
ale
Scor
e
Grade 4 FSA Math Grade 7 FSA Math Grade 10 Math Principles-0.4
-0.2
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
Math Skills Trajectories for 1990-1992 Birth Cohorts
English (N=28150)Cantonese (1414)Mandarin (N=523)Punjabi (N=3114)Filipino (N=775)Vietnamese (N=654)All Languages (N=41970)
Grade of Math Exam
Z Sc
ale
Scor
e
Mean GPA for 1990-1992 Birth Cohorts
BC Graduation Rates by Language Groups for the 1990-1992 Birth Cohorts
Constance Milbrath & Martin [email protected] & [email protected]
Thank you
SPECIAL ACKNOWLEDGMENT & THANKS
TO THE HUMAN EARLY LEARNING PARTNERSHIP
WWW.EARLYLEARNING.UBC.CA
EXTRA SLIDES IF Time
The Middle Years Development Instrument (MDI)
lKimberly Schonert-Reichl , Martin Guhn & MDI Team
5 Dimensions of the Middle Years Development Instrument
I
Social and DevelopmentOptimism, empathy, happiness & prosocial
1
ConnectednessAdult Support in family, School & neighbourhood, connected to peers
2
School ExperiencesAcademic self-concept, School climate, victimization
3
Physical Health & Well-BeingGeneral health, nutritiion & Sleep patterns
4Constructive Use of After-School TimeTime spent in Activities
5
Culture and Developmental Outcomes
Research SummaryTo date, few studies in Canada have examined developmental health outcomes of immigrant children during the early years. In particular, there is little research on the interactions between cultural and contextual variables with regard to children’s developmental outcomes.
This study examines the relationship between children’s language background (as a proxy of ethno-cultural family background), the socio-economic status background of their neighborhood (low versus high SES), and percentage of families with same cultural background within a neighborhood (using a composite of census cultural data), and developmental outcomes as rated on the EDI (EDI mean total score).
Given the population level data base that links EDI data to census variables, this is the first study that can systematically examine the ways in which ethno-cultural family background and neighborhood background variables are jointly related to children’s developmental outcomes.
References
D'Andrade, R. G. (1984).
Cultural meaning systems.
In R. A. shweder & R. A.
Levine (Eds.). Culture
theory: essays on mind,
self, and emotion (pp. 88-
119). New York, NY: CUP.
Hutchins, E. (2002).
Cognition in the wild.
Cambridge, MA: MIT
Press.
Milbrath, C., Ohlson, B. &
Eyre, S. (2009) Adolescent
Cultural Models of
Romantic Relationship.
Journal of Research on
Adolescence, 19(2), 313-
351.
Research to ActionRelevance to Policy and Practice
The findings have important implications for public discourse. The interaction - high cultural density is associated with buffering effects for Punjabi speaking children but not for Cantonese speaking children - indicates that neighborhood constellations and contextual effects cannot be generalized across, in this case, different cultural subpopulations. More broadly speaking, the findings indicate that it is important for researchers, practitioners, and policy makers to acknowledge that the interaction of personal, contextual, and cultural factors may lead to developmental outcome patterns that differ from one subgroup or one context to the next.
Definitions of CultureCulture consists not of behaviors, or even patterns of behavior, but rather of shared information or knowledge encoded in systems of meaning. (D’Andrade, 1984)
Cultures nurture the growth and development of children through their more intangible legacies such as shared systems of norms, beliefs, attitudes, values and knowledge, that serve as mental blueprints for social interactions and living practices. (D’Andrade, 1984)
Culture is a human cognitive process “…that takes place both inside and outside the minds of people…(t)he very same processes that constitute the conduct of an activity and produce changes in the individual practitioners … also produce changes in the social, material, and conceptual aspects of the setting.” (Hutchins, 2002, p. 374)
Behavior, as inseparable from culture, is not determined solely by what is inside an individual, but also by the socio-cultural system that is representative of the artifacts of individuals engaging in cultural activities. (Milbrath, Ohlson & Eyre, 2009, p.315)
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Low Cultural Density High Cultural Density
ED
I Mea
n To
tal S
core
Cultural Density
Total Mean EDI Score for Cantonese and Punjabi Children by Neighbourhood SES & Cultural Density
Cantonese Lower SESNeighbourhoods
Cantonese Higher SESNeighbourhoods
Punjabi Lower SESNeighbourhoods
Punjabi Higher SESNeighbourhoods [+.25SD]
Research Team
Constance [email protected]
Martin [email protected]
Clyde [email protected]
