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Diversity in Schools: Immigrants and the Educational Performance of U.S. Born Students

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  • Giuliano, Paola
  • Figlio, David
  • Marchingiglio, Riccardo
  • Ozek, Umut
  • Sapienza, Paola

Abstract

We study the effect of exposure to immigrants on the educational outcomes of US-born students, using a unique dataset combining population-level birth and school records from Florida. This research question is complicated by substantial school selection of US-born students, especially among White and comparatively affluent students, in response to the presence of immigrant students in the school. We propose a new identification strategy to partial out the unobserved non-random selection into schools, and find that the presence of immigrant students has a positive effect on the academic achievement of US-born students, especially for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Moreover, the presence of immigrants does not affect negatively the performance of affluent US-born students, who typically show a higher academic achievement compared to immigrant students. We provide suggestive evidence on potential channels.

Suggested Citation

  • Giuliano, Paola & Figlio, David & Marchingiglio, Riccardo & Ozek, Umut & Sapienza, Paola, 2021. "Diversity in Schools: Immigrants and the Educational Performance of U.S. Born Students," CEPR Discussion Papers 15933, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:15933
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    Cited by:

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    3. Morales, Camila, 2022. "Do refugee students affect the academic achievement of peers? Evidence from a large urban school district," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Immigrant students; Educational attainment;

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination

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