Available here. by David Figlio, Paola Giuliano, Umut Ozek, Paola Sapienza – #22541 (CH ED LS POL)
We use remarkable population-level administrative education and birth
records from Florida to study the role of Long-Term Orientation on
the educational attainment of immigrant students living in the US.
Controlling for the quality of schools and individual
characteristics, students from countries with long term oriented
attitudes perform better than students from cultures that do not
emphasize the importance of delayed gratification. These students
perform better in third grade reading and math tests, have larger
test score gains over time, have fewer absences and disciplinary
incidents, are less likely to repeat grades, and are more likely to
graduate from high school in four years. Also, they are more likely
to enroll in advanced high school courses, especially in scientific
subjects. Parents from long term oriented cultures are more likely
to secure better educational opportunities for their children. A
larger fraction of immigrants speaking the same language in the
school amplifies the effect of Long-Term Orientation on educational
performance. We validate these results using a sample of immigrant
students living in 37 different countries.