The educational progress of Mainland Chinese immigrant students in Hong Kong

Suet-ling Pong; Wing Kwong Tsang

doi:10.1108/S1479-3539(2010)0000017010

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Research in the Sociology of Education

ISSN: 1479-3539
Series editor(s): Emily Hannum

Subject Area: Education

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The educational progress of Mainland Chinese immigrant students in Hong Kong

Document Information:
Title:	The educational progress of Mainland Chinese immigrant students in Hong Kong
Author(s):	Suet-ling Pong, Wing Kwong Tsang
Volume:	17 Editor(s): Emily Hannum, Hyunjoon Park, Yuko Goto Butler ISBN: 978-1-84950-976-3 eISBN: 978-1-84950-977-0
Citation:	Suet-ling Pong, Wing Kwong Tsang (2010), The educational progress of Mainland Chinese immigrant students in Hong Kong, in Emily Hannum, Hyunjoon Park, Yuko Goto Butler (ed.) Globalization, Changing Demographics, and Educational Challenges in East Asia (Research in the Sociology of Education, Volume 17), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, pp.201-230
DOI:	10.1108/S1479-3539(2010)0000017010 (Permanent URL)
Publisher:	Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Article type:	Chapter Item
Abstract:	Immigrant children's educational assimilation has been a concern to policymakers in the former British colony of Hong Kong, which has received continuous immigration from Mainland China. This chapter examines the academic progress of Mainland Chinese immigrant students in Hong Kong's junior secondary schools from Form 1 (7th grade) to Form 3 (9th grade). Our database is the Medium of Instruction Longitudinal Survey (MOILS) that tracks a cohort of junior secondary students in 1999–2000 from a representative sample of all Hong Kong secondary schools. We find that Mainland students start out in Form 1 at a higher level of achievement than do native Hong Kong students in all academic subjects except the English language. They attain greater subsequent achievement gains than do native students in most subjects. Even though they do not catch up with native students in the English language, they narrow the nativity gap over time. Mainland students’ high performance cannot be explained by their low socioeconomic backgrounds, or the poor- and low-achieving schools they attend. School type and age moderate the nativity-achievement relationship. Schools with low-ability students are more effective than are schools with higher-ability students in promoting Mainland students’ achievement. Older Mainland students show greater academic progress than do younger students regardless of nativity. The implications of these Hong Kong results for the United States and international studies on immigrant children's academic assimilation are discussed.