Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Differences In Immigrant Education By Destination Country: An Analysis Of Turkish Immigrants' Perception Of And Performance In Math And Science, Lisa Turley Smith

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis examines how the country to which Turkish immigrant students immigrate affects their educational outcomes – specifically, math and science test scores and four constructed variables that measure how much students enjoy math and science and their self-rated confidence in the subjects. I use data from the 2003, 2006, 2012, and 2015 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) exams. I examine Turkish immigrant students living in Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany and Denmark.

My findings are consistent with prior research showing that immigrant student test scores vary by destination country. I also find that Turkish immigrant students’ perceptions of math …