Chinese-Heritage Students in North American Schools: Understanding Hearts and Minds Beyond Test Scores

Wen Ma · Guofang Li

Mar 2016 · Routledge

About this ebook

This comprehensive look at Chinese-heritage students’ academic, sociocultural, and emotional development in the public schools examines pertinent educational theories; complex (even inconvenient) realities; learning practices in and outside of schools; and social, cultural, and linguistic complications in their academic lives across diverse settings, homes, and communities.

Chinese-heritage students are by far the largest ethnic group among Asian American and Asian Canadian communities, but it is difficult to sort out their academic performance because NAEP and most state/province databases lump all Asian students’ results together. To better understand why Chinese-heritage learners range from academic role models to problematic students in need of help, it is important to understand their hearts and minds beyond test scores. This book is distinctive in building this understanding by addressing the range of issues related to Chinese-heritage K-12 students’ languages, cultures, identities, academic achievements, and challenges across North American schools.

About the author

Wen Ma is an Associate Professor of Education at Le Moyne College, USA.

Guofang Li

is a Professor and Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in Transnational/Global Perspectives of Language and Literacy Education of Children and Youth at the University of British Columbia, Canada.