Immigration and students' relationship with teachers

Students' relationship with teachers is a building block toward student progress and success. Little is known, however, about the relationships the children of immigrants have with their teachers, which is particularly relevant today in the midst of the current social, political, and economic debate over the influence of immigration in U.S. schools. Analyses, which draw from the public-use Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002 and multiple regression analyses, indeed reveal imperative findings. Most notably, first-generation immigrant students report having strong relationships with teachers, but that relationship steadily deteriorates across immigrant generations. This article also discusses the importance of understanding the schooling of the children of immigrants in this nation's educational system.