Giampiero Passaretta & Jan Skopek, published November 2024
Abstract:
Does schooling help close achievement gaps between students with and without migrant backgrounds? This question is critical but underexplored.
Our study tested whether schooling supports educational integration by benefiting migrant children more than native peers. Using data from Germany's National Educational Panel Study, we analyzed primary school achievement among students from native, Western, non-Western (including Turkish), and former Soviet Union backgrounds.
We separated learning effects of school exposure from age. Our findings challenge the idea that schooling reduces gaps. Instead, schooling widened disparities between migrant groups, benefiting former Soviet Union students most. Thus, German primary schools fail as engines of integration.