Immigrant adolescents are one of the fastest growing segments of our population, yet we know little about how schools prepare them for citizenship. Although prior research suggests that high school civics education, academic achievement, and a sense of connection increase political participation in early adulthood, we do not know if these processes apply to immigrant youth. Using longitudinal, nationally representative data from the Adolescent Health and Academic Achievement study (AHAA) and the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), we employ multilevel models to investigate the effects of formal and informal school curricula on early adult voting and registration. We find that children of immigrant parents who take more high school social studies coursework have higher levels of reported voter registration and voting. In addition, attending a high school where students have a greater sense of connection or where parents have more education are important predictors of registration and voting, regardless of immigrant status.
Preparing for Citizenship: Immigrant High School Students' Curriculum and SocializationThe American common school emerged in the mid-19th century as a means to prepare and educate an active citizenry for participation in a democratic society. With the rise of the urban center as an immigrant receiving ground, the role of schools in transforming immigrant students into civic participants grew in importance (Tyack, 1974). A historical function of U.S. public schools has been to prepare youth, and immigrant youth in particular, to participate in civic society, to participate in the democratic process in general, and to vote in particular (Cremin, 1951;Goodlad, 1984). According to Census 2000, one in five school-age children is an immigrant, or a child of immigrant parents 1 (Hernandez, © College and University Faculty Assembly of National Council for the Social Studies She can be contacted at: rmcallah@uga.edu. 1 We use the term immigrant to refer to youth who are children of foreign-born parents (either or both parents born outside the United States), encompassing both first-and second generation adolescents. A critical factor in schools' role in civic education relates to parental familiarity with the civic system; both first and second generation youth have foreign-born parents new to the U.S. civic culture. Preliminary analyses found no significant differences in predicting our outcomes for first as opposed to second generation immigrant citizen young adults.
NIH Public Access
Author ManuscriptTheory Res Soc Educ. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2013 July 25. ; this dramatic increase in the immigrant student population brings the role of schools in preparing students for the democratic process to the forefront. U.S. schools often serve as a social and educational nexus in the community where immigrant students, and even their parents, can come for socialization into the American mainstream (Olsen, 2000). The struggle to balance immigrant students' unique ...