TY - JOUR
T1 - The skill development of children of immigrants
AU - Hull, Marie
AU - Norris, Jonathan
PY - 2020/10/31
Y1 - 2020/10/31
N2 - In this paper, we study the evolution of cognitive and noncognitive skills gapsfor children of immigrants between kindergarten and 5th grade using two cohorts of elementary school students. We find some evidence that children of immigrants begin school with lower math scores than children of natives, but this gap disappears in later elementary school. For noncognitive skills, children of immigrants and children of natives score similarly in early elementary school, but a positive gap opens up in 2nd grade. We find that the growth in noncognitive skills is driven by disadvantaged immigrant students. We discuss potential explanations for the observed patterns of skill development as well as the implications of our results for the labor market prospects of children of immigrants.
AB - In this paper, we study the evolution of cognitive and noncognitive skills gapsfor children of immigrants between kindergarten and 5th grade using two cohorts of elementary school students. We find some evidence that children of immigrants begin school with lower math scores than children of natives, but this gap disappears in later elementary school. For noncognitive skills, children of immigrants and children of natives score similarly in early elementary school, but a positive gap opens up in 2nd grade. We find that the growth in noncognitive skills is driven by disadvantaged immigrant students. We discuss potential explanations for the observed patterns of skill development as well as the implications of our results for the labor market prospects of children of immigrants.
KW - labor market dynamics
KW - children of immmigrants
KW - skill development
U2 - 10.1016/j.econedurev.2020.102036
DO - 10.1016/j.econedurev.2020.102036
M3 - Article
SN - 0272-7757
VL - 78
JO - Economics of Education Review
JF - Economics of Education Review
M1 - 102036
ER -