Do limited English students jeopardize the education of other students? Lessons from the North Carolina public school system

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe significant increase in immigration has altered the ethnic composition of public schools in many states. Given the perceived negative impact of immigrant students by some, we are interested in investigating whether higher concentrations of students with limited English (LE) skills in a school affect the academic performance of native students. To address this question, we analyze education data from North Carolina using LE ability as a proxy for immigrant students who are not native English speakers. Our analysis provides limited evidence of negative peer effects of LE students, though the effects are heterogeneous and the magnitudes are small.