Undermatched? School-Based Linguistic Status, College Going, and the Immigrant Advantage

Considerable research investigates the immigrant advantagethe academic benefit first- and second-generation students experience relative to native-born peers. However, little work examines how school-based linguistic status may influence this advantage. Contradictory patterns exist: Research identifies both an immigrant advantage and a language minority disadvantage in college going. Although not all immigrant youth are language minorities, many do speak other languages. U.S. educators group immigrant students into three discrete linguistic categories: native English speakers, language minorities not in English as a second language (ESL), and English learner (EL) students. We employ multivariate methods to investigate immigrant college going by linguistic status using the Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002. Results suggest an immigrant advantage only among immigrant groups not in ESL and evidence of undermatchingwherein students choose postsecondary options for which they are over-preparedamong high-achieving EL students. Disentangling the immigrant advantage might improve EL students' college going, stemming this loss of human capital