This article explores the educational performance and careers of the children of immigrant families and those of French natives in secondary schooling in France. Using a rich longitudinal dataset (the 1995 Panel of the Ministry of Education), we compare the parents' educational expectations with the school careers of their children. We identify higher educational expectations among immigrant parents than among natives from a similar social background. Although immigrant students begin the collège with a poorer school performance than native students, they tend to shorten this distance with the simple passage of time. Besides, most of this disadvantage is explained by class-related factors. Among the working class, there are few differences in the educational careers of children of immigrants and those of French-born children in upper secondary education. Nonetheless, students from a North African ancestry seem to be less able to materialize their aspirations than the descendants of Portuguese immigrants, and thus express more frequently their dissatisfaction with their orientation in the vocational or technological track

Drawing on comparative analyses from nine Western countries, we ask whether local-born children from a wide range of immigrant groups show patterns of female advantage in education that are similar to those prevalent in their host Western societies. We consider five outcomes throughout the educational career: test scores or grades at age 15, continuation after compulsory schooling, choice of academic track in upper-secondary education, completion of upper secondary, and completion of tertiary education. Despite great variation in gender gaps in education in immigrants' origin countries (with advantages for males in many cases), we find that the female advantage in education observed among the majority population is usually present among second-generation immigrants. We interpret these findings in light of ideas about gender role socialization and immigrant selectivity.

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Résumé Les inégalités d’éducation selon les origines migratoires et sociales sont analysées en examinant les performances à l’entrée et à la fin des années de collège, les orientations au lycée, puis les diplômes obtenus, à partir du panel des élèves entrés en 6 e en 1995 en France. Les inégalités des enfants d’immigrés se forment dès l’école primaire, mais ne se creusent pas ultérieurement. Considérant les données de façon tantôt absolue, tantôt relative, les difficultés scolaires de ces enfants se trouvent confirmées, et plus pour les garçons que les filles. En revanche est soulignée la relative proximité entre ces jeunes et leurs condisciples français d’origine de même milieu socioprofessionnel. Les sorties sans diplôme des enfants d’immigrés résultent des échecs aux examens chez les jeunes d’origine maghrébine, à la différence des jeunes d’origine portugaise qui accèdent au marché du travail. Si plus de la moitié des élèves de la cohorte obtiennent un baccalauréat, il s’agit plutôt d’un baccalauréat technologique ou professionnel. Les écarts de réussite selon le genre sont plus élevés parmi les jeunes issus de l’immigration. On observe ainsi une différenciation des parcours selon l’origine et une polarisation sexuée.