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Children of immigrants come from diverse backgrounds and enter school with different family migration experiences and resources. This paper addresses two basic questions: (1) to what extent does generation status exert an independent effect on early school performance net of race/panethnicity, language proficiency, and the family resources available to children as they enter formal schooling? and (2) to what extent do these broad conceptualizations of children in immigrant families mask variation by national origins? We take advantage of longitudinal data on a kindergarten cohort from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study to examine children from diverse backgrounds. Considerable variation in academic performance persists across racial/panethnic groups as well as by country-of-origin background and linguistic ability even when adjusting for family background, resources, and previous academic performance. We find some intriguing evidence of early “segmentation” among children from various groups, suggesting some convergence within race and ethnicity for some children. However, this conclusion should not be overstated, because the results also point to the great diversity by national origins that are masked by reliance on racial/panethnic groupings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses various matters on migration. The Political Participation of Ethnic Minorities in Europe workshop was organized by the European Consortium for Political Research and was held at the Leyden University, The Netherlands, on April 2 to 8, 1993. This workshop explores the factors which constrain or facilitate the participation of ethnic minorities in the political process and the extent to which such participation has furthered or diluted the pursuit of ethnically-based interests. Meanwhile, the Annual Meeting of the American Catholic Historical Association: Philadelphia was held April 16 to 17, 1993. It included the following papers: The American Catholic Response to Recent Immigration, by M. L. Sullivan; Ybor City Latins and the Church, by M. J. McNally; and Puerto Ricans and the Archdiocesan of Chicago, 1963-1970, by T. Kelliher. In other matters, The Forum for Researchers on Islam in Europe was established to encourage the development of information and interdisciplinary research on Islam and Muslim populations in Europe. It foresees a publication of a newsletter, directory of members, publication of an international bibliography in 1993, a symposium in 1994, and an international conference in 1995.

The article presents several abstracts on the issue of migration and ethnicity. One of the abstract refers to a study which demonstrates the existence of distinct subsystems within a working class, Italian American neighborhood. In addition to a traditional working class orientation, there will also be a mobile middle class orientation as well as an "inconsistent" deviant subsystem. The study shows to what extent boys with similar values and behavior styles come from similar family types and peer groups. Another paper calls attention to an invisible community, Latin American Jews. It suggests fruitful research areas concerning this community and stresses the need for research now. Problems that researchers may encounter concerning this little investigated group are also explored. H. Troper in his article analyzes the current history curriculum changes in Ontario's public school in order to see whether recent major shifts reflect changes in the direction of the Canadian political socialization process.

This paper is an attempt to construct an index of community characteristics of the Chaldean Iraqi-Americans residing in Metropolitan Detroit, Michigan, by suggesting that an ethnic occupation, a high degree of intermarriage within the ethnic group, and geographical proximity, might serve to unite the Chaldean community as effectively as ethnic associations united the communities in Raymond Breton's study. These three variables are found to be intercorrelated and predictive of the general cultural behavior of the Chaldean community as well as of their values, social interaction patterns, and certain phases of general culture. This has several consequences for ethnic research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents various abstracts related to migration and ethnicity. Some of these are as: "Chicanos, Universities and Academic Colonialism," by C.H. Arce; "Spanish Galician Migrant Life-Histories and Social Change," by H.C. Buechier; "Industrial Resources and Ethnic Mobility: An Application of Ecological Theory," by B.S. Denich; "Ethnography of Migration: Breaking out of the Bi-Polar Myth," by D. Uxxell; "Urban Adaptation Among Peruvian Migrants," by S.B. Lobo; "Wong, B., "Ethnicity and Adaptive Strategies of the Chinese in New York," by B. Wong et al. In the paper, "A Causal Model on the Alienation of Chinese-Americans," by W.H. Kuo, two multifaceted concepts- immigrant status and minority--have been decomposed into their respective sub concepts. Using data gathered from a sample of Chinese-Americans in Washington D.C., a causal model was constructed which examines the relationships between the sub concept of immigrant and minority status and alienation.

The article discusses doctoral dissertations dealing with Italian immigrants and their acculturation in the United States. Of the 156 Dissertations 43 have been published, most of the others are available in microfilm or in Xerox copies from Dissertation Abstracts. Thirty-nine were written by halo-Americans. Fifteen different disciplines are represented, ranging from Anthropology to Theatre, although the majority are in History, Sociology, and Education. During the period 1908-1924 only 6 dissertations were written, the first at Yale in 1908 and the second at Harvard in 1909. The information given for each dissertation is: author's name, title of dissertation, university and date of degree, volume and page of Dissertation Abstracts where the abstract of the dissertation is found and the order number of the dissertation. Some of the research papers discussed are "The Ethnic Factor in American Catholicism: An Analysis of Inter-Ethnic Marriage and Religious Involvement"; "The Missionary, An Agent of Cultural Diffusion"; "A Comparative Study of the Mental Capacity of Children of Foreign Parentage."

The article discusses the lack of data regarding Hispanic immigrants in the United States and presents information on sources to correct that. Up-to-date research information regarding Spanish ethnic group is a problem for social science study. Papers published by the American Ethnological Society has helped correct the lack, specially the 1968 "Proceedings" periodical that addresses Spanish speakers in the country. The drawbacks of carrying out ethnological studies without carefully taken and stratified samples are elucidated. Several examples of research regarding the subject are also presented.

The article presents information on conferences and other events on migration. It is reported that the Tenth Annual National Legal Conference on Immigration and Refugee Policy, sponsored by the Center for Migration Studies of New York, will be held in Washington, D.C. during March 26-27, 1987. The conference titled "U.S. Bureau of the Census: Third Annual Research Conference (ARC III)," will be held in Washington, D.C., in March 1987. The theme of ARC III will be improving the quality of survey results. Papers may address methodology, empirical studies, or relevant issues. Further, it is reported that the History Committee of the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Centennial Commission and the University of Illinois Press announce a new series in immigrant and ethnic history. Manuscripts treating any aspect of the American immigration experience will be eligible, including the history of immigration to and immigrant and ethnic groups in the United States and comparative studies of immigration as an international phenomenon.

The article presents information on various research papers related to migration of ethnic groups, published in an earlier issue of the journal "International Migration Review". "Hansen's Law of 'Third-Generation Return' and the Study of American Religio-Ethnic Groups," by E.I. Bender and G. Kagiwada takes note of the divergences as well as the convergences in a critical body of speculation, theory and empirical research on religio-ethnic patterns of identification, acculturation and assimilation. "L'integrazione socio-culturale degli immigrati," by Elio Caranti illustrates the criteria followed in the formulation of the program carried out by the Italian Committee for the Study of Population Problems in 1966. It also gives the first results of theoretical and field research concerning the immigrants' socio-cultural integration which reveals that the fundamental constant on migrations is the subjective stimulus that press an individual or a large group of individuals to find better labor conditions and a higher standard of living. "Crime and Migration," by Franco Ferracuti. In the United States the criminality of migrant workers was one of the most popular areas of study in criminology in the first half of the century. In this study, it is shown that the theory which attributed the increase in crime rates to migration was untenable.