PISA Performance of Natives and Immigrants: Selection versus Efficiency

Abstract

AbstractIn most countries, immigrant and native students perform differently in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) due to two main reasons: different immigration regimes and differences in their home-country educational systems. While there is sophisticated literature on the reasons for these performance gaps, it is barely considered in the educational efficiency research. Our approach distinguishes between selection effects caused by immigration policies, and the efficiency of educational systems in integrating immigrant students, given their socio–economic background. Accordingly, we split our sample, which consists of 153,374 students in 20 countries, calculate various different efficient frontiers, and ultimately decompose and interpret the resulting efficiency values. We find large differences in educational system efficiency, when controlling for negative selection effects caused by immigration regimes.