Newswise — How are immigrant students in Quebec's high schools doing? Great, according to a study on graduation rates and examination results submitted last October to Quebec's education department (MEQ) by Université de Montréal researchers.
Led by Isabelle Archambault, a professor in UdeM's School of Psychoeducation, the researchers analyzed MEQ data detailing the academic performance of all 242,800 Quebec students who started secondary school in 2012, 2013 and 2014.
Their conclusion? "Immigrant students are doing very well, not only in terms of academic success and graduation rates, but also on official exams,” said Archambault.
The MEQ data divides immigrant students into two groups: first-generation (those born outside Canada) and second-generation (those with at least one parent born outside Canada). (A "third-generation-or-later" category pertains to individuals with both parents born in Canada.)
The UdeM study covers seven years, not just the usual five years it takes to graduate.
"When it comes to immigrant students, looking at graduation rates after only five years is generally biased, particularly since many allophones require French-language learning support, which may slow down their progress somewhat,” Archambault noted.
A much-needed update
In 2011, UdeM professor Marie McAndrew published one of the first studies on academic success, educational pathways and graduation rates among Quebec's immigrant students. Her findings had to be brought up to date as the demographic situation changed, said Archambault.
For one thing, student populations are increasingly diverse across Quebec, not just in Montreal, she noted, and so a number of "stakeholders, including researchers and school administrators, wanted to see the data updated."
Although drawing comparisons is still difficult, particularly since the method for calculating the indicators has changed over the past decade, high-school graduation rates since 2011 show greater improvement among first and second-generation immigrants than among other students.
Despite these encouraging results, particularly among second-generation immigrants, the research team found that students in this group were only half as likely to be enrolled in enriched programs.
“Our data are descriptive only – we don't explain anything," said Archambault. "But we can still wonder why these students are under-represented. It's a legitimate question."
The researchers also found that students attending schools in underprivileged areas or public schools (as opposed to private) have lower graduation rates.
“It's interesting to note, however, that the observed differences in graduation rates based on school type are lower among first- or second-generation immigrants than among other students," said Archambault.
In terms of language proficiency, first-generation immigrants have lower results on French exams than second or third-generation immigrants. However, they score better in math, science and history.
A more in-depth analysis
Up next: a second phase of the study that will provide a more in-depth analysis of the data.
“We want to find out whether factors specific to the type of institution ( public or private school, francophone or anglophone, etc.) or to the students themselves (preferred language, choice of program) are associated with graduation rates and academic success," Archambault said.
She'd also like to shed light on one of the new study's more unexpected findings: graduation rates are lower for students who enrolled in Quebec's "welcome classes" geared towards non-francophone immigrants than for those who received other forms of language-learning support.
“We definitely shouldn't jump to any conclusions," Archambault cautioned. "These results must be concealing other factors.” The results could simply reflect regional differences, particularly since each school service centre adopts its own model for language instruction, she said.
Although the first stage of the study does not answer every question, the data remain relevant, if only for the purpose of assessing the situation," she added.
"In general, immigrant students are successful and a large percentage of them go on to graduate from high school. This is very positive and encouraging."
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