Can ethnic diversity have a positive effect on school achievement?

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of ethnic diversity on test scores, on top of the effect of the share of non-native pupils. We use a rich survey of Dutch primary school students and exploit variations between subsequent cohorts within the same school as our identification strategy. We find that ethnic diversity has a positive impact on the test scores of minority students, in particular for language skills. We also find some evidence of a negative relationship between ethnic diversity and school social integration. We suggest that ethnic diversity stimulates language proficiency and increases the time students spend studying. ARTICLE HISTORY

The effect of immigrant peers in vocational schools

“…Likewise, in the school setting, although ethnic diversity may worsen student social interaction and make teachers' jobs more difficult, it can also enrich the school environment and hasten the assimilation of immigrant students. In fact, small ethnic minority groups have a larger incentive to adopt the majority culture and language as a means of interaction (Lazear, 1999;Maestri, 2017). Yet little empirical research exists on the effect of classroom ethnic diversity on native school performance other than a recent study by Maestri (2017), 19 who finds that although ethnic diversity has no significant impact on native students' literacy scores, it does increase those of immigrant students, even after controls are included for ethnic composition and peers effects.…”

Latinos’ Changing Ethnic Group Representation From Elementary to Middle School: Perceived Belonging and Academic Achievement

“…Diversity also provides more opportunities for contact with different ethnic groups, which is related to improved intergroup attitudes and more comfort when interacting with outgroup peers (e.g., Chen & Graham, ; Knifsend & Juvonen, ; Thijs & Verkuyten, ). More ethnic diversity in school also provides educational benefits (e.g., more problem‐solving and group skills), which could increase learning as well as positively impact achievement in schools (Maestri, ; Terenzini, Cabrera, Colbeck, Bjorklund, & Parente, ). All of these findings suggest that, like exposure to bilingual education in the Hughes et al.…”

Quantile Peer Effects of Immigrant Children at Primary Schools

“…Educational peer effects of immigrant children have also been investigated in the Netherlands (Van der Silk et al ., ; Maestri ; Ohinata and van Ours, ). Van der Silk et al .…”

“…They find that pupils in school classes with a high share of ethnic minorities perform worse but this effect disappears once parental characteristics are taken into account. Maestri () studies the effect of ethnic diversity in a class room finding that this has a positive effect on test scores of minority students. Both of these papers use the same data as we do in the current paper.…”