School Incorporation and High School Completion among Latino Youth

Using data from the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002, a nationally representative sample of US high school students, I investigate how features of secondary schools influence the likelihood of Latino students completing high school. To do so, I introduce the concept of school incorporation, which includes school policies, school receptivity climate, and school coethnic community. Based on multilevel analysis, I find that attending schools where students feel safe and where students report having same-race friendships is associated with increased odds of graduation, as is attending a school that offers college preparation curriculum. However, I do not find that the effects varied by race/ethnicity or immigrant generation; that is, the relationships hold for all students rather than for Latino immigrants in particular. Thus, school incorporation is not appropriately labeled a mechanism for immigrant incorporation per se.