Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/120957 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2015
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 9307
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Past research has shown that Hispanic students make test score gains relative to whites as they age through school; however, this finding stands in contrast to the experience of blacks, who show little change in their relative position over the same time frame. Distinguishing Hispanic students by immigrant generation, I find that the children of immigrants (first- and second-generation Hispanics) drive the improvement in Hispanic test scores. Later-generation Hispanics consistently perform slightly below whites, perhaps due to negative selection into ethnic identification. Thus, previous estimates vastly understate the progress of first- and second-generation Hispanic immigrants. From a negative gap in 3rd grade, these students surpass socioeconomically similar whites in math and reading by middle school and end 8th grade as much as a quarter of a standard deviation ahead. Assimilation alone cannot explain this progress; a potential explanation is that immigrant parents create a home environment that fosters achievement.
Subjects: 
human capital
achievement gap
Hispanic immigrants
JEL: 
J24
I24
J15
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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