Author Description

The Children of Immigrants at School aexplores the 21st-century consequences of immigration through an examination of how the so-called second generation is faring educationally in six countries: France, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United States. In this insightful volume, Richard Alba and Jennifer Holdaway bring together a team of renowned social science researchers from around the globe to compare the educational achievements of children from low-status immigrant groups to those of mainstream populations in these countries, asking what we can learn from one system that can be usefully applied in another. a Working from the results of a five-year, multi-national study, the contributors toa The Children of Immigrants at School aultimately conclude that educational processes do, in fact, play a part in creating unequal status for immigrant groups in these societies. In most countries, the youth coming from the most numerous immigrant populations lag substantially behind their mainstream peers, implying that they will not be able to integrate economically and civically as traditional mainstream populations shrink. Despite this fact, the comparisons highlight features of each system that hinder the educational advance of immigrant-origin children, allowing the contributors to identify a number of policy solutions to help fix the problem. A comprehensive look at a growing global issue, a The Children of Immigrants at School arepresents a major achievement in the fields of education and immigration studies. Richard Alba ais Distinguished Professor of Sociology at the City University of New YorkOCOsa Graduate Center.a His publications includea Remaking the American Mainstreama (with Victor Nee) anda Blurring the Color Line. Jennifer Holdaway ais a Program Director at the Social Science Research Council, where her work has focused on migration and its interaction with processes of social change and stratification. a a"