This article provides an empirical assessment of the effect of immigrant concentration on student learning in Italian primary and lower secondary schools, using the data of a standardized learning assessment, administered in 2010 to the entire student population of selected grades at the national level. Identification is accomplished by exploiting the within-school random variability observed between classes in the share of immigrant students. I estimate peer effects allowing for heterogeneous effects between native and immigrant background children, and among natives, between children of different socio-economic status. The main finding is that the proportion of immigrant students has a weak effect on child learning outcomes, and that this effect is somewhat larger for children from disadvantaged backgrounds (immigrants and low socio-economic status).
Immigrant background peer effects in Italian schools
CONTINI, Dalit
2011-01-01
Abstract
This article provides an empirical assessment of the effect of immigrant concentration on student learning in Italian primary and lower secondary schools, using the data of a standardized learning assessment, administered in 2010 to the entire student population of selected grades at the national level. Identification is accomplished by exploiting the within-school random variability observed between classes in the share of immigrant students. I estimate peer effects allowing for heterogeneous effects between native and immigrant background children, and among natives, between children of different socio-economic status. The main finding is that the proportion of immigrant students has a weak effect on child learning outcomes, and that this effect is somewhat larger for children from disadvantaged backgrounds (immigrants and low socio-economic status).I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.