Foreign-born Students, Academic Stars

A study done by New York University has shown that recent immigrant students perform better academically than native students in New York City public schools. Foreign-born students actually succeed more when they start their public school educations in high school as opposed to middle or elementary school. The findings of this study contradict the idea that language and cultural barriers prevent foreign-born students from catching up with their peers. In fact, immigrant students are more likely to graduate when they are supposed to and score higher on math Regents exams. They are also more likely to take the SAT. The Manhattan Bridges High School, which only has recent Hispanic immigrants as students, was rated the best performing high school in the city.

This study has shed a new light on the situation of foreign-born public school students living in the city. Learning a new language and navigating the school system is most certainly not easy, and we must commend these students who not only accept the challenge, but achieve great things along the way.