Does Early Educational Tracking Increase Migrant-Native Achievement Gaps? Differences-in-Differences Evidence Across Countries
40 Pages Posted: 23 Mar 2015
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Does Early Educational Tracking Increase Migrant-Native Achievement Gaps? Differences-in-Differences Evidence Across Countries
Abstract
We study whether early tracking of students based on ability increases migrant-native achievement gaps. To eliminate confounding impacts of unobserved country traits, we employ a differences-in-differences strategy that exploits international variation in the age of tracking as well as student achievement before and after potential tracking. Based on pooled data from 12 large-scale international student assessments, we show that cross-sectional estimates are likely to be downward-biased. Our differences-in-differences estimates suggest that early tracking does not significantly affect overall migrant-native achievement gaps, but we find evidence for a detrimental impact for less integrated migrants.
Keywords: immigration, educational inequalities, educational tracking, differences-in-differences
JEL Classification: I21, J15, I28
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