The Role of Social Networks in Educational Performance of Students with Migration Background in Germany

The existing research suggests that in Germany educational performance of the students with migration background vary between different national groups. In order to provide an answer to this puzzle, this paper/talk examines the role of social ties and networks of immigrant families and students on educational performance. The paper also provides a test of the theory of segmented assimilation, which sees the ethnic community as a key source of social capital for children of immigrants for assimilation into the middle-class of the host society. The findings indicate that closer and denser ethnic ties have limited negative effects on Math performance, whereas they have no effect on Reading performance of the 9^thgraders in Germany. After controlling for background factors and school-type, the use of German language in the household and with best friends has the strongest explanatory power for Reading performance. Finally, higher concentration of students with migration background in school and in classroom have negative effects on school performance. This article uses data drawn from the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS), which has recently become available for scientific research.