Native Flight and the Academic Consequences of Immigrant Peer Exposure

• In Event: Migration and Peer Effects

Abstract

Current U.S. Immigration to the United States has increased steadily over the past several decades, particularly among school-aged children. In response, a growing body of research has examined how the presence of immigrant peers affects the academic performance of U.S.-born students. However, much of this work has focused on short-run outcomes and has struggled to provide causal estimates due to a key challenge: the mobility of native families in response to changing school demographics—a phenomenon often referred to as “native flight.” How do short-run academic and behavioral effects vary across different state and policy contexts? Are these effects transitory, or do they persist into later life? And to what extent do native families adjust their schooling decisions in response to immigrant inflows, potentially reshaping both school composition and peer environments? This project contributes to answering these questions by examining both the short- and long-run consequences of immigrant peer exposure in Texas. Our primary emphasis is on short-run academic and behavioral outcomes during elementary and secondary school, where we investigate whether and how immigrant peer exposure affects test scores, attendance, disciplinary incidents, and grade progression. A critical component of our analysis is a careful examination of native flight, assessing whether exposure to immigrant peers leads to changes in school composition through residential moves or strategic school enrollment choices. We also extend our analysis to examine longer-run academic outcomes to understand whether any observed short-run effects persist into adulthood. These include high school graduation, college enrollment and college completion.

Author

• Briana Ballis, University of California, Merced
  Presenting Author