We examine bachelor's degree completion in the British Columbia post-secondary system, which is noted for its multiple pathways to graduation and ethnically diverse student population. Employing an administrative longitudinal dataset, we compare how the probability of degree completion by students enrolled at research-intensive, teaching-intensive, and college-technical institutions differs by ethno-linguistic background and high school grades. Estimates from multi-level logistic regression modelsdemonstrate that Korean, Tagalog, and Vietnamese speakers have lower probabilities of degree completion than English-speaking students. The type of institution a student initially enters is, however, an important correlate of degree completion for all ethno-linguistic groups. Students with lower high school grades who initially enter a research-intensive institution are more likely to graduate compared with higher-achieving students who enter a teaching-intensive or college-technical institution. To improve completion by institutional type and among ethno-linguistic groups, our study highlights the need for research on why degree completion is lower at certain institutions for all ethno-linguistic groups and consistently lower among Korean, Tagalog, and Vietnamese speakers regardless of their level of academic achievement in high school or the type of post-secondary institution they initially entered.

Immigrant women to Canada face unique challenges in gaining mastery of English or French, the country's two official languages. The study focuses on differences among women with respect to pre-migration and post-migration characteristics that position them differently with respect to language learning in the social contexts where they assert their immigrant identity. This study examines issues in language acquisition among adult immigrant women and their strategies to improve language skills within four years of arrival, using nationally representative data from the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada (LSIC). The study shows that older women, less educated women, and some immigration class groups (i.e., spouse/dependents, family class, refugees) have lower language proficiency at arrival and less chances to improve. Since immigrant women represent a heterogeneous group in terms of pre-migration language skills and access to language learning, adequate language learning support is required to facilitate their effective integration in the Canadian society.

As Canadian postsecondary systems have expanded they have become more institutionally differentiated. In British Columbia, distinctions are made between research-intensive universities (RIUs) and teaching-intensive universities with respect to resources, programming, and perceived prestige value. We employ an effectively maintained inequality framework to examine the role played by ethnicity in the competition for admission to RIUs. Our findings indicate that, together with socioeconomic status and gender, ethnicity is significantly related to RIU attendance rates. Ethnic group differences were particularly marked-Chinese and Korean speakers being most likely and Tagalog speakers least likely to attend an RIU. High school grade point averages and English language proficiency scores moderated only some of these differences, raising questions about the efficacy of competitive admissions policies based solely on academic merit.

The study examines science-related course choices of high-school students in the culturally diverse schools of the province of British Columbia, Canada. The analysis employs K-12 provincial data and includes over 44,000 students born in 1990 who graduated from high school by 2009. The research sample reflects the presence of about 27% of students for whom English is not a first language. We construct an empirical model that examines ethno-linguistic and gender differences in Grade 12 course choices while accounting for personal and situational differences among students. The study employs a course selection typology that emphasizes readiness for science, technology, engineering and math fields of study. Findings indicate that math- and science-related course selection patterns are strongly associated with ethnicity, qualified not only by gender and prior math and science achievement but also by the individual's grade level at entry to the system and enrollment in English as a Second Language program. Students who are more likely to engage in math and science courses belong to Asian ethno-linguistic groups and entered the provincial school system during the senior high-school years. We suggest that ethnic diversity and broader academic exposure may play a crucial role in changing the gender composition of science classrooms, university fields of study and science-related occupations.

The Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada is employed to compare recent immigrant post-secondary education participants and non-participants with respect to a range of factors, including demographic, socio-economic, and cultural differences, official language competency, recognition of educational credentials and employment experiences, and social capital. A multilevel logit model was employed to identify the (changing) impact of factors on post-secondary participation. The cumulative post-secondary participation rate increased from 10% to 33% to 44% within 6 months, 2 years and 4 years of arrival, respectively. Gender, age, prior level of education, self-reported language proficiency, social capital and situational factors were significant in explaining the cumulative increase.

Cet article utilise les donnees provenant de l'Enquete longitudinale aupres des immigrants du Canada (ELIC) couvrant la periode 2000-2004 afin d'evaluer l'emploi a duree determinee et la reussite professionnelle des immigrants recents qui, bien qu'ayant obtenu un diplome universitaire dans leur pays d'origine, ont choisi de s'inscrire dans un etablissement d'enseignement postsecondaire canadien. La principale conclusion de l'article est que la reussite professionnelle des immigrants tres instruits est affectee par le choix de l'enseignement post-secondaire au Canada, toutes categories socio-demographiques et conditions d'avant ou apres migration confondues. Quatre annees apres leur arrivee au Canada, les immigrants occupent des emplois nettement moins prestigieux que ceux qu'ils avaient avant la migration. Les immigrants qui ont poursuivi des etudes universitaires au Canada atteignent des meilleurs resultats professionnels que les non-participants ou ceux qui ont choisi un college communautaire. Neanmoins, la majorite des immigrants tres instruits n'ont pas reussi a retrouver leur profession. This paper uses data from the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada covering the period 2000 to 2004 to assess short-term employment and occupational attainment of recent immigrants who, despite having completed a university degree in their countries of origin, chose to obtain additional credentials at a Canadian postsecondary institution. The main finding of this paper is that occupational attainment of highly educated immigrants is affected by choice of postsecondary education in Canada regardless of differences in sociodemographic, premigration characteristics, and postmigration conditions. Four years after entry, immigrants worked in jobs with significantly lower occupational prestige than those held prior to migration. Immigrants who pursued a university education in Canada attained highest occupational outcomes when compared to nonparticipants and those who chose a community college pathway. Nevertheless, the majority of highly educated immigrants failed to gain entry to the professions.

This study employs the 2004 School Achievement Indicators Program (SAIP) data to examine whether academic effort manifested by greater investments in school and homework does result in higher literacy scores in science for Canadian students. The study compares four gender–immigrant profiles: Canadian-born males, immigrant males, Canadian-born females, and immigrant females on their scores on teacher-assigned grades in science and on the SAIP science literacy test, and across a range of dispositions, beliefs, and behaviors suggested in the literature as predictive of achievement in science. Study findings show that Canadian-born students, particularly boys, have higher performance in the science literacy test despite their lower achievement in the science classroom and the least investments of time in doing science homework. In contrast, immigrant female students demonstrate the highest academic effort and achievement in science courses which are not matched by similar results in the science literacy test. We discuss these results in relation to different socialization experiences with science and technology that limit female and immigrant students’ abilities to transfer knowledge to new situations that have not been learned in the classroom.

On the basis of administrative data obtained from provincial or local authorities, this article examines the school pathways of young allophones in the dominant linguistic sector: French in Montreal and English in Toronto and Vancouver. In each of the three cities, although they have comparatively lower characteristics, the allophones (target group) perform more or less as the non-allophones (comparison group), in terms of cumulative graduation rates as well as choice of selective courses leading to CEGEP or university. It remains, nevertheless, that this performance differs between linguistic subgroups, with the hierarchy of such subgroups varying between the three cities. However, a multivariate regression analysis reveals, after controlling for the differences in the characteristics of the two groups, that the control group comes rather on top and this, in all three cities. Moreover, the regression analysis examines, for each of the three cities, the risk factors affecting the target group and compares them with the corresponding factors affecting the comparison group.

Many newly arrived adult immigrants enroll in post-secondary institutions and adult education training programs in search of Canadian credentials that would improve their career opportunities. In this study, we examine the antecedents and correlates of participation in education and training by adult immigrants who arrived in Canada between October 2000 and September 2001. We employ two waves of the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada (LSIC), which provides extensive information on the education, work experience, and family situations of immigrants for the two-year period following their arrival. We adopt Crossʼs (1981) model of adult education participation, and identify relevant individual, situational, dispositional, and immigrant-specific factors to predict participation. We find that, in addition to factors generally recognized in the literature as affecting participation, immigrantsʼ decisions to participate in education and training are significantly affected by personal and situational features of the immigrant settlement process. Résumé Nombreux nouveaux immigrés adultes s’inscrivent dans des institutions postsecondaires, ou dans des programmes de formation continue à la recherche des diplômes qui amélioreraient leurs possibilités de carrière. Dans cette étude, nous examinons les facteurs antécédents et corrélatifs de cette participation dans le processus d’éducation ou de formation continue dans le cas des immigrés adultes arrivés au Canada entre octobre 2000 et septembre 2001. Nous utilisons deux cycles de l’Enquête longitudinale auprès des immigrants du Canada (ELIC) qui fournit des informations sur le niveau d’éducation, l’expérience de travail et les situations familiales des immigrés adultes pendant les deux années suivant leur arrivée au Canada. Nous adoptons le modèle de participation des adultes à des activités de formation proposé par Cross (1981) et identifions les facteurs qui sont spécifiques à la participation des immigrés adultes. Nous concluons qu’à part les facteurs généralement reconnus par la littérature de spécialité comme influençant la participation des adultes, les conditions personnelles et situationnelles du processus d’installation au Canada influencent la décision des immigrés adultes de suivre une formation.

While education statistics confirm that there is little difference in the dropout rates of native-born and immigrant youth, analyses of Toronto District School Board (TDSB) data have revealed significant variation in school persistence within immigrant groups. Among newcomer youth, the decision to leave school early has been reported to be strongly influenced by socioeconomic status as well as such factors as country of origin, age at arrival, generational status, family structure, and academic performance. While living in low-income conditions is thought to place both foreign- and Canadian-born youth at risk of poor school performance and early school withdrawal, their substantially higher incidence of poverty suggests that today's immigrant youth are likely to face greater obstacles to academic success that may in turn have detrimental, long-term consequences. This paper uses TDSB data to investigate the extent to which living below the low-income cutoff affects the likelihood of dropping out of secondary school, while taking into account generational status as well as a variety risk factors, noted above. Policy implications are discussed.

This paper contrasts the profiles of women who choose to pursue vocational training in either public institutions (community colleges) or private institutions (career colleges) in Canada with particular attention given to respondents’ life‐course positions. The study employs 1998 Adult Education and Training Survey data. Correspondence analysis shows the relation between training choices of women, their individual characteristics and selected situational, dispositional, and institutional factors. The space topography determined by the correspondence between training choices and women profiles indicates that duration of training constitutes the primary institutional feature distinguishing choice. Older women who need to balance both work and family obligations tend to enroll in single courses and are attracted to the modular programming of the private colleges. In contrast, the traditional program‐based vocational training offered by community colleges is the preferred option for younger women.

La recherche présentée ici concerne la performance et le cheminement scolaires des jeunes Canadiens d’origine immigrée, aux niveaux primaire et secondaire, et porte sur les banques de données recueillies par les ministères de l’Éducation ou les conseils ou commissions scolaires du Québec, de l’Ontario et de la Colombie-Britannique. Son objectif est de réaliser un bilan critique de l’état des données, de contraster les conclusions d’études menées à partir d’elles et d’identifier les lacunes existantes en vue d’un projet pancanadien plus large. Diverses questions pourraient être éclairées par l’une ou l’autre des banques, tels les sous-groupes d’origine immigrée qui devraient recevoir un soutien prioritaire, les moments charnières où se joue leur scolarité, le lien entre la durée du soutien en langue seconde et la performance des élèves allophones, ainsi que la différence des défis vécus dans les écoles de langue française ou de langue anglaise, et dans les métropoles ou en région.

The study uses the 2002 Ethnic Diversity Survey (EDS) to examine the relationship between immigrants’ educational credentials and earnings. Three aspects of an individual’s credentials are considered: country of origin, level of education, and field of study. In addition, we examine the constraining effects of gender and visible minority status on the ability of immigrants to negotiate the value of their educational credentials in the Canadian labour market.