The emergent cultural identity of Puerto Rican and Dominican third-grade students and its relation to academic performance.

摘要

Racial and ethnic disparities in student academic achievement persist in the Boston Public Schools (BPS Office of Assessment and Evaluation, 2003). This disparity in achievement intensifies after third grade (Applied Research Center, 2000; Berriz, 2002b; Garcia, 2001). Numerous studies have documented a relationship between the cultural identity and academic performance of youth of immigrant origin. In particular, cultural identity is demonstrated to be significant in determining academic outcomes for the U.S. born children of parents who first-generation immigrants---i.e., born outside the U.S. (Garcia, 2001; Portes & Rumbaut, 2001; Suarez-Orozco, 2001; Valenzuela, 2000; Waters, 1999).; While there is significant evidence of the link between cultural identity and academic outcomes among adolescents, the relationship of identity to academic performance for students of latency age, is yet to be well documented in the research (Troyna & Carrington, 1990). My dissertation research examines how second-generation third-grade children, from families of Puerto Rican and Dominican heritage, describe their cultural identities, and how these descriptions relate to teachers' assessments of these children's academic performances.; The following questions guide my research: What are the academic performance profiles of latency-age second-generation children Latino Caribbean origin who are in the third grade of Boston Public Schools, based on teacher assessments? How do these children personally describe their cultural identities? What relationship exists, if any, between the student's self-description of their cultural identity and the teachers' characterizations of their academic performance?; This mixed methods study design utilizes quantitative methodology to determine academic performance by asking teachers to provide the information on an Academic Performance Checklist. Qualitative data collection strategy for cultural identity includes a student interview that uses a drawing as a prompt and catalyst for data collection. This exploratory study tests methodology, generates theory, and develops areas for further research on younger immigrant students' cultural identity and its relationship to teachers' assessments of academic performance.