Foreign Students at School: How to Break Educational Segregation

FOREIGN STUDENTS, IF SUPPORTED, MAKE CHOICES MORE SIMILAR TO THOSE OF THEIR ITALIAN COLLEAGUES

According to OCSE data, schooling systems characterized by early tracking of pupils handicap disadvantaged students. In Italy, the problem is particularly evident among male immigrant students. The best among them may aspire to technical and academically-oriented schools, yet they tend to enroll in vocational high schools. Fondazione Cariplo, Compagnia di San Paolo and Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Padova e Rovigo have therefore funded a program aimed at steering high-achieving immigrants towards high schools that fit their potential.
 
They defined “high-achieving immigrants” as the 10 immigrant students with the best INVALSI scores in middle schools that have at least 20 immigrant students. Target students were invited to a cycle of 10 tutoring and career counseling sessions that took place over a two-year span. They acquired information on high schools and reflected on their own aspirations. The program was implemented in 70 schools randomly chosen from a sample of 145 middle schools. This allowed the evaluation of the effects using a counterfactual approach. Michela Carlana, Eliana La Ferrara and Paolo Pinotti of Bocconi University compared educational choices, performances and inclinations among 70 target schools and 75 control schools. The results are featured in the working paper Goals and Gaps: Educational Careers of Immigrant Children.
 
“At the end of the initiative, tutored males had a 12% higher probability of attending an academic or technical high school. They also closed the gap between them and native boys in terms of school drop-out and grade retention”, Paolo Pinotti explains. “A significant part of the effect is explained by changes in aspirations and in teachers’ recommendations induced by the treatment”.
 
There is more. Once enrolled in technical and academically-oriented high schools, tutored students were no more likely to experience difficulties compared to the control group. “Even a low-intensity treatment can lead to success stories and the reduction of educational segregation”.

Read more about this topic:
The Mark of the Great Migrations. Article by Andrea Colli
Massimo Anelli. The Political Costs of Emigration
Alessandra Casarico. Market Benefits for Legalized Immigrants
Carlo Devillanova. The Uninformed Find the Door to Healthcare Shut
Joseph-Simon Goerlach. Moving from the South to the North Improves Your Salary. But Not Your Wealth
Graziella Romeo. The Contradictions of the European Legal System
 

by Claudio Todesco