Chapter 6. Conclusion achievement gaps with respect to parental education, this dissertation does not find evidence for a similar achievement gap development for migration background. While natives outperform students with a migration background in the early years of primary education, these latter students do not fall behind their native peers at the end of primary education. This suggests that students with a migration background are able to catch up during primary education, when taking into account parental education. Chapter 4 provides insights in the interplay among skills. The chapter examines the following question: Do varying basic skills relate to each other during primary education? The chapter concludes that one skill does not stand alone, although they are often analyzed as stand-alone skills. Skills develop simultaneously, and they relate to each other contemporaneously and dynamically. Contemporaneously, these skills have a relationship of around 0.10-0.30 SD. Over time, a student’s skill level is mainly predicted by their own skill level in the previous period (0.20-0.30 SD). However, skill levels are also predicted, to a lesser extent, by other skills from the previous period (0.00-0.10 SD). We simulate what would happen if a sudden improvement (or ’shock’) occurred in one skill area. The results show that a boost in any one of these skills is positively associated with significant improvements in the development trajectories of the other skills. This interrelation is not transient; rather, the cumulative response to a change in one skill area demonstrates that such a shock yields beneficial effects that endure over a period of at least five years. These findings indicate that the development of basic skills during primary education is characterized by a dynamic and mutually reinforc142
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjY0ODMw