Abstract
This study examines the consequences of two controversial Arizona immigration laws, the Legal Arizona Workers Act and SB 1070, on school enrollment and student achievement trends. In the period after implementation of both policies, Arizona public schools have demonstrated growth in student achievement on standardized tests arguably due to the state education policies. We propose an alternative explanation and show that the observed achievement gains in schools resulted both due to academic improvement and partially because of the attrition of the low achieving students from certain type of schools. Using data from Arizona public schools we find that after the immigration laws were enacted, schools with initially higher shares of Hispanic students lost about 42 more Hispanic students on average and at the same time experienced greater increase in average test scores compared to schools with initially low Hispanic enrollment. We argue that changes in average test scores partially reflected the changes in school demographic composition as a result of the implementation of restrictive immigration policies.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Journal | Social Science Journal |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jan 1 2019 |
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Keywords
- Education
- Hispanic/Latino immigrants
- Immigration policy
- Student achievement
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Social Psychology
- Sociology and Political Science
Cite this
Better schools or different students? The impact of immigration reform on school-level student achievement. / Pivovarova, Margarita; Vagi, Robert.
In: Social Science Journal, 01.01.2019.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Better schools or different students? The impact of immigration reform on school-level student achievement
AU - Pivovarova, Margarita
AU - Vagi, Robert
PY - 2019/1/1
Y1 - 2019/1/1
N2 - This study examines the consequences of two controversial Arizona immigration laws, the Legal Arizona Workers Act and SB 1070, on school enrollment and student achievement trends. In the period after implementation of both policies, Arizona public schools have demonstrated growth in student achievement on standardized tests arguably due to the state education policies. We propose an alternative explanation and show that the observed achievement gains in schools resulted both due to academic improvement and partially because of the attrition of the low achieving students from certain type of schools. Using data from Arizona public schools we find that after the immigration laws were enacted, schools with initially higher shares of Hispanic students lost about 42 more Hispanic students on average and at the same time experienced greater increase in average test scores compared to schools with initially low Hispanic enrollment. We argue that changes in average test scores partially reflected the changes in school demographic composition as a result of the implementation of restrictive immigration policies.
AB - This study examines the consequences of two controversial Arizona immigration laws, the Legal Arizona Workers Act and SB 1070, on school enrollment and student achievement trends. In the period after implementation of both policies, Arizona public schools have demonstrated growth in student achievement on standardized tests arguably due to the state education policies. We propose an alternative explanation and show that the observed achievement gains in schools resulted both due to academic improvement and partially because of the attrition of the low achieving students from certain type of schools. Using data from Arizona public schools we find that after the immigration laws were enacted, schools with initially higher shares of Hispanic students lost about 42 more Hispanic students on average and at the same time experienced greater increase in average test scores compared to schools with initially low Hispanic enrollment. We argue that changes in average test scores partially reflected the changes in school demographic composition as a result of the implementation of restrictive immigration policies.
KW - Education
KW - Hispanic/Latino immigrants
KW - Immigration policy
KW - Student achievement
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85067070756&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.soscij.2019.05.014
DO - 10.1016/j.soscij.2019.05.014
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85067070756
JO - Social Science Journal
JF - Social Science Journal
SN - 0362-3319
ER -