Peer influence or discrimination? Understanding the mechanisms behind ethnic differences in school achievement

In many countries, a considerable ethnic gap is observed in students’ school achievement.

Children of certain immigrant backgrounds lag behind with regard to their school grades, even after controlling for their socio-economic status and language skills.

In this project, we explore various mechanisms that might explain differences between school performance of students of different ethnic origin.

In the first work package, using regression models, we investigate whether children of certain immigrant groups are discriminated and systematically graded down in teachers’ evaluations.

In the second work package, we use statistical models for social networks to find out whether mechanisms such as selection of homophilous friendship, social influence, or potential peer sanctions against high-achieving students contribute to ethnic differences in school performance.

In the third work package, we use empirically calibrated agent-based simulations to examine how discrimination might contribute to the emergence of “oppositional culture” among certain ethnic groups.

We analyze longitudinal data collected among adolescents in four European countries including Sweden (CILS4EU) as well as Swedish register data.

The findings of the project can raise teachers’ awareness of biases in grading practices and shed light on the potential unintended consequences of biased grading.

Furthermore, the findings can inform educational policy to reduce ethnic inequalities in students’ school performance.