Immigrant Selectivity and Educational Outcomes of Immigrant Children: A Temporal Perspective

Abstract Despite much research on immigrant selectivity, little attention has been given to its temporal dimension. Thus, while immigrant selectivity has been theoretically identified and empirically demonstrated, it has been viewed as a relatively stable social occurrence. The study reported in this paper examined temporal changes in immigrant selectivity using an extensive dataset on migration from the former Soviet Union (FSU) to Israel between 1989 and 1994. It was found that the average level of parental education obtained in the country of origin had significantly decreased during a short period of time. By tracking the progress of these immigrants’ children from high school to adulthood through administrative data, a corresponding decrease in educational achievement was observed among the incoming children who migrated to Israel. However, multivariate analysis using linear and logistic regression models showed that the drop in average parental education could not fully explain the decrease in children’s educational attainment. We suggest that immigrant children who arrive in the receiving country after several years of a continuous wave of immigration may also be affected by changes in the receiving education system, as it is trying to cope with growing numbers of new arrivals.