Analyzing Educational Achievement Differences between Second-Generation Immigrants: Comparing Germany and German-Speaking Switzerland

Abstract

In this study, I provide evidence that the educational achievement of second-generation immigrants in German-speaking Switzerland is greater than in Germany. The impact of the first-generation immigrants' destination decision on their offspring's educational achievement seems to be much more important than has been recognized by the existing literature. I identify the test score gap between these students that cannot be explained by differences in individual and family characteristics. Moreover, I show how this gap evolves over the test score distribution and how the least favorably-endowed students fare. My results suggest that the educational system of Switzerland, relative to the German system, enhances the performance of immigrants' children substantially. This disparity is largest when conditioning on the language spoken at home, and prevails even when comparing only students whose parents migrated from the same country of origin.

PISA Performance of Natives and Immigrants: Selection versus Efficiency

“…Besides their levels of educational, human capital, and wealth-related aspects (all part of PISA's ESCS index), native and immigration populations may also differ in cultural, religious, historical, and reputational aspects (Parr & Bonitz, 2015;Kunz, 2016). Immigrants may also face formal rights and legal status challenges, lack accumulated experiences as well as social connections that may result in educational information asymmetries, which can influence the educational performance of their children (Rindermann & Thompson, 2016;Camehl et al, 2018).…”

“…The differences between natives and immigrants in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), has gained considerable attention in the literature.¹ Apart from social, cultural, religious and historical reasons, different immigration policies and different levels of success in integrating immigrants are the two most important aspects (Kunz, 2016;Isphording et al, 2016). Countries attract different groups of immigrants with different socio-economic environments, due to country attractiveness, as well as their immigration policies (Entorf & Minoiu, 2005;Hochschild & Cropper, 2010).…”

Schools That Promote the Improvement of Academic Performance and the Success of All Students

“…Other studies show empirical evidence of the influence of some variables on academic performance such as the mean socioeconomic and cultural level of the school (Perry and McConney, 2010a,b), school size or teacher-student ratio (Nath, 2012), as well as school process factors such as grouping students according to their academic ability (Meunier, 2011;Kunz, 2014), teaching methodology (Nath, 2012;Payandeh-Najafabadi et al, 2013), or the learning environment (Payandeh-Najafabadi et al, 2013;Santos et al, 2013), among others.…”

The Intergenerational Effects of Language Proficiency on Child Health Outcomes

“…A growing literature shows that there are important intergenerational effects of language skills. For example, parental language skills are positively related to children's English speaking proficiency, educational attainment, and labour market outcomes (among many others, Bleakley and Chin, 2008;Guven and Islam, 2015;Casey and Dustmann, 2008;Kunz, 2016;Groger and Trejo, 2002). However, there is limited understanding of how language skills may be part of the intergenerational effects on children's health outcomes, or health care utilisation.…”