Educational Achievement of Immigrant Children in Western Countries: Origin, Destination, and Community Effects on Mathematical Performance

This paper explores the extent to which macro-level characteristics of destination countries, origin countries and immigrant communities can explain differences in the educational achievement of immigrant children. Using data from the 2003 PISA survey, we performed analyses on the mathematical performance of 7403 pupils with a background of immigration from 35 different origin countries in 13 Western countries of destination. Our cross-classified multilevel analyses show that cross-national and cross-group variance cannot be fully explained by compositional differences. Contextual properties of host countries, origin countries and communities also affect the educational performance of immigrant children. We show that the better educational performance of immigrant children in traditional immigrant receiving countries can be explained by strict immigration laws. We further find that the level of economic development of origin countries negatively affects immigrant children’s educational performance, and that children who have a background in more politically stable countries, perform better at school. Finally, we find that socioeconomic differences between immigrant communities and the native population and relative community size negatively affect immigrant children’s scholastic achievement.immigrant; educational achievement; cross-national comparison; PISA; origin country; destination country

The Importance of Cognitive Abilities at Primary School for Educational and Occupational Success in the Life Course of a Dutch Generation, born around 1940.

This paper gives empirical evidence of the role of cognitive ability in social stratification by analyzing a Dutch longitudinal data set (the so-called Noord-Brabant cohort), as a contribution to the debates around The Bell Curve. Differences in early cognitive ability influence educational success. The differences in that early cognitive ability between respondents with different educational levels increase during their life course. Selection and allocation in the educational system is partly based on these differences in cognitive ability, independent of the parental background of pupils. This early cognitive ability doesn’t directly affect the selection and allocation at the labor-market, independent of the attained educational level. The same holds for income and early cognitive ability. Generally speaking differences in early cognitive abilities are more important in processes of educational attainment for men than women. Differences in cognitive ability play therefore an important role in the making and unmaking of social inequality, based on class.intelligence; income; education; occupational status;

Positive but also negative effects of ethnic diversity in schools on educational performance? An empirical test using cross-national PISA data.

In this inaugural lecture, I will estimate the effects on language skills of two characteristics of school populations: average/share and diversity, both on the ethnic and the sociocultural dimension. I will use the cross-national PISA 206 data, for both 15-year-old native pupils and pupils with an immigrant background. A larger ethnic diversity of schools in secondary education hampers the educational performance of both pupils with an immigrant background and native pupils, but the negative effects are smaller in education systems with little stratification and strongest in highly stratified education systems. The sociocultural diversity of schools does not have an effect on educational performance, but these effects are positive in highly stratified educational systems and negative in hardly stratified systems. However, the average parental educational level of schools is very important for the educational performance of children, and this hardly differs between education systems. A higher share of pupils with an immigrant background in a school hampers educational performance, but if these pupils have the same regional origin (Islamic countries; non-Islamic Asian countries), a higher share of pupils with an immigrant background at that school promotes educational performance. Pupils originating from Islamic countries have substantially lower language scores than equivalent pupils with an immigrant background from other regions. This cannot be explained by the individual socioeconomic backgrounds, school characteristics, or education systems.immigration; educational performance; country of origin; ethnic school diversity; social-economic school diversity; ethnic and social-economic share/average of schools; educational systems

A cross-national analysis of the relations between school choice and effectiveness differences between private-dependent and public schools

We apply propensity score matching to the estimation of differential school effectiveness between the publicly funded private sector and the public one, in a sample of 26 countries. This technique allows us to distinguish between school choice and school effectiveness processes and thus, to account for selectivity issues involved in the comparison of the two. Concerning school choice, we found two patterns: a choice of the upwardly mobile parents for private schools and a preference for segregation by (lower-) middle class parents. As regards school effectiveness, our results indicate that, after controlling for selectivity, a substantial advantage in reading achievement remains among students in publicly funded private schools in ten out of the 26 countries.school choice; school effectiveness; private-dependent and public schools; international comparison; PISA data

The Effects of Immigration Policies and Labor Market Structures on the Income of Immigrants to the More Developed Countries of Europe and North America

The average household income of first generation immigrants in Europe and North-America is lower than that of natives, and this difference can not be explained by their amount of human capital (education, age, gender, residence). This is above all true for immigrants, coming from the second- or third world, who have also a lower return of their education. These arrears in income of immigrants vary between countries of destination, also after control for the individual characteristics of immigrants and natives. Only one characteristic of immigration policy has a significant effect on the variance of income arrears of immigrants across the countries of destination: the inflow ratio of asylum seekers. The higher this inflow ratio of asylum seekers in a country of destination, the larger the income differences between comparable immigrants and natives in that country of destination. Also only one characteristic of the labour market for foreigners has a significant effect on income arrears of immigrants in various countries of destination and from different countries of origin. A larger labour market participation by foreigners increases their income arrear with comparable natives, but this larger labour market participation by decreases that income arrear of the higher educated immigrant and does that extra for the higher educated immigrant from the second and third world.income; immigrants; cross-national analysis; labour market policies;

From public offices to the cultural or economic sector. How Dutch nobility kept its elite positions during the 20th century.

Dutch noble families have held more elite positions than high bourgeois families during the 20th century, and this relative advantage hardly changed over several generations. In this paper we test on of the possible explanations of this ‘constant noble advantage hypothesis’, using a sample of members of noble and high bourgeois families born in the 20th century. We assume that Dutch nobility made a strategic shift from the public sector (diplomacy, local government) towards to the private sector (financial or service sector). The analyses confirm a move by the successive generations of Dutch nobility away from public elite positions towards more elite positions in the cultural and business sector. Although this move into elite position in other sectors does not fully compensate for the decline of elite positions in the public sector, it highlights an important part of the explanation of the ‘constant noble advantage’. Dutch high bourgeoisie did not made this move outside the public sector during the same period.nobility; elite; cultural and business sector; constant noble advantage

Explaining immigrant citizenship status. First and second generation immigrants in fifteen European states

Citizenship acquisition is often seen as a crucial step in the process of integrating immigrants in host societies. This paper analyzes the question why some immigrants are more likely to have acquired destination country citizenship across European states than others and tests legal-formal, socioeconomic, cultural and micro-level explanations. We use a pooled dataset of first and second generation immigrants resident in 15 European states and apply a logistic multilevel analysis to measure country of origin effects, destination country effects, as well as the effects of individual level characteristics. Our analysis shows that second generation and first generation immigrants who arrived more than 20 years ago, immigrants with one parent born in the destination country, retired workers and persons speaking the host country language at home, are more likely to become a citizen of their country of residence. Second generation Muslim immigrants are less likely to have host country citizenship than comparable non-Muslim immigrants of the second generation. Immigrants from former colonies or from poor or political instable countries are more likely to become a citizen of their country of residence. Immigrants are also more likely to have acquired citizenship in destination countries with a low net migration rate and with citizenship laws that make citizenship accessible in comparative perspective.immigration; citizenship; european union; destination; origin

School sector variation on non-cognitive dimensions: are denominational schools different?

Denominational schooling makes up an important part of European educational systems. Given its specificity, denominational schooling can be expected to place a greater weight on values teaching and moral education. As such, it may be more effective in bringing about certain attitudes and opinions. It also may be more successful in creating a warm and caring atmosphere, thus helping students to better emotionally connect to the school community. This paper set out to empirically test some of these hypotheses by making use of three waves of data collected in the framework of the Program for International Student Assessment study. We compare public and publicly supported private (as a proxy to denominational) schools on two dimensions, namely the emotional integration with the rest of the school community, and the concern and feelings of responsibility towards the environment. But for Austria, Belgium and Spain, no evidence could be found that the type of the school has any impact on the reported psychological adaptation to the school. In these three countries, publicly supported private schools tend to be more successful in integrating their students. Also students in public and private dependent schools were equally environment oriented, taking into account several student and school characteristics. The lack of schooling sector differences in attaining non-cognitive aims may have at least three causes. First, ecological issues could be salient enough not to necessitate any special religious or moral reinforcement in order to gain traction. Second, public schools may use religious education or ethics just as fruitfully and consequently, they are just as successful in values and norms transmission. Third, it is possible that schools play a minor role in introducing students to environmental dilemmas and concerns, this role being taken over by the family or the media.public schools; private schools; non-cognitive; value teaching; psychological integration; PISA data

The differences in attitudes about their society between 14 year old pupils with and without an immigration background; a cross-national comparison

In this paper we analyze the attitudes of 14 year old children of first and second generation immigrants and their civic attitudes about (aspects of) the society of destination. We use data from the Civic Education Study conducted by International Educational Association (IAE) in 1999. This Civic Education Study tests civic knowledge, civic attitudes and civic participation of 14 year old students. We have five dependent variables in 11 countries: trust in government related institution positive attitudes towards immigrants, positive attitudes towards one’s nation of residence positive attitudes towards women’s rights and civic participation. 14-year pupils with an immigrant background had stronger positive attitudes towards immigrants, stronger negative attitudes towards women’s political and economic rights, stronger negative attitudes towards the nation of residence and less outspoken lower trust in government related institutions. Second generation pupils do not deviate less than first generation, neither pupils in more inclusive societies differ less.trust; immigrants; 14-year old pupils; cross-national analyses

The Effects of Social and Labour Market Policies of EU-countries on the Socio-Economic Integration of First and Second Generation Immigrants from Different Countries of Origin

In this article, we analyse four different dimensions of socio-economic integration of 1st and 2nd generation immigrants into the labour markets of 13 EU countries and we assess, taking into account a number of individual characteristics, the effects of the countries of origin and the countries of destination on this integration. We find that participation in the labour market, unemployment, occupational status and the chances of reaching the upper middle-class are different, although inter-related, dimensions of the socio-economic integration of immigrants and they work differently for men and women. In the countries of destination, the level of employment protection legislation and the conservative welfare regime affect this integration negatively. Most indicators of national policies aimed at the integration of immigrants have no effects on the socio-economic integration of immigrants. Furthermore, we find a number of origin effects which continue to have an impact on 2nd generation immigrants. Political stability and political freedom in origin countries have positive and negative effects on socio-economic integration. The emigration rate of the origin countries has a negative effect. The higher levels of socio-economic integration amongst immigrants from other EU-countries demonstrates the functioning of the European Union as an integrated labour market .Controlling for individual religious affiliation turns out to be very useful, since we find a number of negative effects of being a Muslim, among both men and women. While individual education is an important predictor of immigrants' labour market outcomes, our findings indicate lower returns on this education in terms of occupational status, indicating a ceiling effect for highly-educated 2nd generation immigrants who cannot translate their qualifications into high-status jobs to the same extent as their native peers.immigration, integration, labour market, European Union, social policy