ANGLOPHONE WEST INDIAN STUDENTS IN THE QUEBEC SCHOOL SYSTEM:

CHARACTERISTICS AND EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE

(1994-1995-1996 cohorts)

Marie Mc AndrewDirector

Chair in Ethnic StudiesUniversity of Montreal

May 11th 2006

PLAN

• Overview of the research

• Social and educational characteristics of anglophone West Indian students

• Educational mobility

• Academic performance

• Conclusion

SOCIAL AND EDUCATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS OF

ANGLOPHONE WEST INDIAN STUDENTS

Table 1Mother tongue, region of origin and geographical distribution, students from Black communities (1994, 1995, 1996 cohorts)

a) French sector

b) English sector

Population Whole of QuebecMontreal region

Laval/Montérégie regions

Students from Black communities* 870 662 162

Caribbean (English mother tongue) 710 557 129

Africa (English mother tongue) 106 68 25

Students of immigrant origin 8 561 5 502 1 718

Entire population 30 716 15 563 7 168

* 12 students were not attributed to either of these groups, since their parents were born in two different countries from the different groups.

* 6 students were not attributed to either of these groups, since their parents were born in two different countries from the different groups.

Population Whole of Quebec Montreal region

Laval/Montérégie regions

Students from Black communities* 5 747 4 436 917

Caribbean (French mother tongue) 2 179 1 369 599

Caribbean (English mother tongue) 515 459 47

Caribbean (Creole mother tongue) 2 393 2 168 176

Africa (French mother tongue) 531 328 83

Africa (English mother tongue) 117 104 9

Students of immigrant origin 40 026 25 444 6 935

Entire population 270 445 48 875 61 808

Table 2Gender and place of birth, Anglophone West Indian students

(1994, 1995, 1996 cohorts) (whole of Quebec)

Population

Gender Place of birth

Boys (%) Girls (%)Born in

Quebec (%)Born outside Quebec (%)

French sector

Anglo West Indian

students47.0 53.0 19.2 80.8

Students of immigrant origin 51.2 48.8 34.3 65.7

Entire population 51.4 48.6 88.3 11.7

English sector

Anglo West Indian

students54.5 45.5 77.9 22.1

Students of immigrant origin 51.5 48.5 60.8 39.2

Entire population 52.0 48.0 77.8 22.2

Table 3Level of entry into the Quebec school system,

Anglophone West Indian students(1994, 1995, 1996 cohorts) (whole of Quebec)

1 : Students graduating from primary school)2 : Students entering into secondary 13 : Students entering into secondary 2, 3, 4 and 5

PopulationFormer1

secondary 1(%)New2

secondary 1 (%)

During secondary

schooling3 (%)

French sector

Anglo West Indian

students50.9 28.7 20.4

Students of immigrant origin 62.6 17.1 20.3

Entire population 90.4 2.9 6.6

English sector

Anglo West Indian

students84.4 2.0 13.7

Students of immigrant origin 74.2 4.6 21.1

Entire population 86.5 2.9 10.7

Table 4Socioeconomic rank index, Anglophone West Indian students

(1994, 1995, 1996 cohorts) (whole of Quebec)

Population Decile ranks 1 to 7 (%) Decile ranks 8 to 10 (%)

French sector

Anglo West Indian

students50.9 49.1

Students of immigrant origin 57.7 41.8

Entire population 69.1 30.6

English sector

Anglo West Indian

students71.4 27.9

Students of immigrant origin 77.0 19.3

Entire population 75.1 22.8

Table 5Contrasting West Indian anglophone students with

other Black students (French sector)

Language of students

Born in Quebec (%)

Arrived at the primary level (%)

With low socioeconomic rank index ( = middle or high ses)

(%)

West Indian 77.9 84.4 71.4

African 47.2 65.1 89.6

a) French sector

b) English sector

Language of students

Born in Quebec (%)

Arrived at the primary level (%)

With low socioeconomic rank index ( = middle or high ses)

(%)

West Indies

Francophones 75.4 83.8 57.4

Anglophones 19.2 50.9 50.9

Creolophones 16.3 43.5 29.3

Africa

Francophones 14.9 39.9 59.5

Anglophones 5.1 24.8 34.2

EDUCATIONAL MOBILITY

Table 6Age upon entry into high school, Anglophone West Indian students

(1994, 1995, 1996 cohorts) (whole of Quebec)

PopulationNormal age1 (T+1)

(%)With lag2

(> T+1) (%)

French sector

Anglo West Indian

students75.5 24.5

Students of immigrant origin 82.3 17.7

Entire population 94.0 6.0

English sector

Anglo West Indian

students94.9 5.1

Students of immigrant origin 96.6 3.4

Entire population 97.3 2.7

1 : Up to one year of school lag2 : Two or more years of school lag

Table 7School lag accumulated in secondary 3,

Anglophone West Indian students (1994, 1995, 1996 cohorts) (whole of Quebec)

Population

Students entering at normal age, secondary 1

Students entering with lag, secondary 1

With no lag in

sec. 3 (%)

With lag or absent in

sec. 3

(%)

With no extra lag in sec. 3 (%)

With extra lag or absent in

sec. 3 (%)

French sector

Anglo West Indian

students56.9 43.1 28.3 71.7

Students of immigrant origin 71.1 25.9 35.6 64.4

Entire population 80.2 19.8 37.2 62.8

English sector

Anglo West Indian

students81.7 18.3 80.8* 20.0*

Students of immigrant origin 84.2 15.8 57.1 42.9

Entire population 84.3 15.7 48.6 51.4

* : Total number of students less than 10.

Table 8 Anglophone West Indian students declared SHSMLD*,

integrated or non-integrated (1994, 1995, 1996 cohorts) (whole of Quebec)

PopulationDeclared SHSMLD

(%)Integrated

(%)Non integrated

(%)

French sector

Anglo West Indian students

14.4 4.5 9.9

Students of immigrant origin 9.4 3.0 6.4

Entire population 12.6 3.7 8.9

English sector

Anglo West Indian students

22.3 13.0 9.3

Students of immigrant origin 10.8 7.0 3.8

Entire population 16.3 11.7 4.6

* SHSMLD: Students with Handicaps, Social Maladjustments or Learning Difficulties.

Table 9High school graduation rate of Anglophone West Indian students

(1994, 1995, 1996 cohorts) (whole of Quebec)

Population After five years (%)After six years

(cumulative) (%)After seven years (cumulative) (%)

French sector

Anglo West Indian students

27.4 35.0 41.2

Students of immigrant origin 45.5 53.7 57.4

Entire population 57.8 65.7 69.0

English sector

Anglo West Indian students

47.2 55.4 58.3

Students of immigrant origin 59.0 64.9 66.9

Entire population 59.6 65.8 68.0

Table 10Sector attended and type of diploma, Anglophone West Indian

students with a high school diploma (1994, 1995, 1996 cohorts) (whole of Quebec)

Population

Youth sector Adults sector

General

(%)

Professional

(%)

General

(%)Professional

(%)

French sector

Anglo West Indian students

61.3 0.0 38.7 0.0

Students of immigrant origin 91.2 0.4 7.8 0.6

Entire population 90.9 2.4 5.3 1.3

English sector

Anglo West Indian students

88.2 1.2 10.4 X

Students of immigrant origin 94.2 0.3 5.2 0.0

Entire population 94.3 0.3 5.0 0.4

X : Total number of students less than 10.

Table 11 CEGEP access and language of instruction,

Anglophone West Indian students (1994, 1995, 1996 cohorts) (whole of Quebec)

PopulationCEGEP

attendance (%)

Language of instruction

French (%) English (%) Bilingual (%)

French sector

Anglo West Indian students

33.2 8.8 90.1 1.2

Students of immigrant origin 52.8 62.6 35.2 2.2

Entire population 54.8 89.7 8.7 1.5

English sector

Anglo West Indian students

51.5 X 97.3 X

Students of immigrant origin 58.6 1.6 97.7 0.7

Entire population 56.4 4.1 95.0 0.9

X : Total number of students less than 10

Table 12CEGEP graduation rate and type of training,

Anglophone West Indian students (1994, 1995, 1996 cohort) (whole of Quebec)

PopulationGraduates from

initial cohort

(%)

Graduates having reached CEGEP

(%)

Type of training

General (%)

Technical (%)

French sector

Anglo West Indian students

8.2 24.5 91.7 8.3

Students of immigrant origin 26.2 48.2 78.7 21.3

Entire population 29.7 53.2 67.0 33.0

English sector

Anglo West Indian students

24.2 43.4 73.2 26.8

Students of immigrant origin 35.6 58.2 86.3 13.7

Entire population 32.9 56.5 86.6 13.4

Table 13Contrasting Anglophone West Indian students with other

Black students

Language of students

Enter high school at normal

age (%)

Do not accumulate more delay

(%)

Never identified as «at risk» students (%)

Get a high school

diploma (%)

Get a college

diploma (%)

West Indies

Francophones 88.8 76.2 86.0 65.4 22.0

Anglophones 75.5 56.9 85.6 41.2 8.2

Creolophones 64.3 49.8 82.3 39.5 7.9

Africa

Francophone 81.7 78.6 93.0 62.3 23.7

Anglophones 59.0 56.3 93.2 47.0 18.9

a) French sector

Origin of students

Enter high school at normal

age (%)

Do not accumulate more delay

(%)

Never identified as «at risk» students (%)

Get a high school

diploma (%)

Get a college

diploma (%)

West Indian 94.9 81.7 77.7 58.3 24.2

African 99.1 85.9 93.4 68.9 35.1

b) English sector

French sector (%) English sector (%)

Place of birth

Born in Quebec

Born outside Quebec

54.5

38.0

64.0

38.2

Level of entry

Former secondary 1 (students graduating from primary school)

New secondary 1 (students entering into sec. 1)

During secondary schooling (students entering into sec. 2,3,4, 5)

48.1

38.5

27.6

64.3

X

27.8

Table 14Factors positively linked to high school graduation among

Anglophone West Indian students

Gender

Boys

Girls

31.0

50.2

52.7

65.0

Socioeconomic rank index

Decile ranks 1 to 7

Decile ranks 8 to 10

43.9

38.3

59.8

54.0

Age at arrival into high school

Normal age (T + 1) (up to one year’s lag)

With school lag (> T + 1) (over two years’ lag)

40.4

43.7

60.5

X

Table 14 (con’t.) Factors positively linked to high school graduation

among Anglophone West Indian students

School lag in secondary 3

Students entering at normal age, secondary 1

Students entering with lag, secondary 1

With no lag, secondary 3

(%)

With lag or absent,

secondary 3

(%)

No extra lag, secondary 3

(%)

With extra lag or absent,

secondary 3

(%)

French sector

Anglo West Indian students 64.4 18.7 53.6 40.8

English sector

Anglo West Indian students 74.4 13.5 X X

X: Total number of students less than 10

ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

Table 15Presence of Anglophone West Indian students at secondary 4 and 5

Ministerial exams, youth sector (1994, 1995, 1996 cohorts) (whole of Quebec)

French-language examsHistory

(%)

Physical science

(%)

Written French, language of

instruction (%)

Written English, second language

(%)

Anglo West Indian students

36.1 34.0 29.1 25.6

Students of immigrant origin 63.4 57.7 58.5 58.0

Entire population 74.7 71.4 68.5 67.2

English-language examsHistory

(%)

Physical science

(%)

Written English, language of

instruction (%)

Written French, second language

(%)

Anglo West Indian students

60.8 68.9 64.4 62.3

Students of immigrant origin 66.8 73.0 70.8 67.4

Entire population 66.1 74.0 71.1 68.9

Table 16Success rate and average of

Anglophone West Indian students at secondary 4 and 5 Ministrial exams, youth sector

(1994, 1995, 1996 cohorts) (whole of Quebec)

Secondary 4

History Physical science

% success rate

Average (%) % success rate Average (%)

French sector

Anglo West Indian students

88.2 68.7 77.1 67.1

Students of immigrant origin 94.4 75.5 89.6 75.9

Entire population 94.8 75.6 90.2 76.2

English sector

Anglo West Indian students

84.3 67.3 75.7 66.4

Students of immigrant origin 91.3 73.1 85.4 73.7

Entire population 90.6 72.5 83.0 72.3

Table 16 (con’t.) Success rate and average of

Anglophone West Indian students at secondary 4 and 5 Ministrial exams, youth sector

(1994, 1995, 1996 cohorts) (whole of Quebec)

Secondary 5

Written French, language of instruction

Written English, second language

% success rate

Average (%) % success rate Average (%)

Anglo West Indian students

67.3 65.5 98.5 92.1

Students of immigrant origin 85.1 73.4 97.1 85.1

Entire population 89.6 76.2 95.0 80.5

Written English, language of instruction

Written French, second language

% success rate

Average (%) % success rate Average (%)

Anglo West Indian students

94.1 70.1 80.8 69.0

Students of immigrant origin 97.1 72.8 85.3 73.4

Entire population 96.4 72.5 85.4 73.8

CONCLUSION