Social Capital and Mathematics Achievement of Fourth- and Fifth-Grade Children in Segregated Primary Schools

• In Event: 16.047 - Longitudinal Studies of Students' Educational Outcomes

Abstract

Scholars have demonstrated that the socioeconomic composition of the pupil body is related to academic achievement. The effect of ethnic/immigrant concentration, on the other hand, is more controversial, as some have found no impact of the ethnic/immigrant composition when other aspects were taken into account. A recurring but neglected finding in such studies is the large variation in the academic performance within and between segregated schools. It is not clear which factors distinguish students from high-performing segregated schools and students from the low-performing segregated schools. Social capital theory claims that it is possible to compensate for a disadvantaged background or a deficient learning context when pupils benefit from being integrated in specific social structures.

Authors

• Kenneth Hemmerechts, Vrije Universiteit Brussel

• Dimokritos Menelaos Kavadias, Vrije Universiteit Brussel

• Orhan Agirdag, KU Leuven