European societies and schools face the challenge of accommodating immigrant minorities from increasingly diverse cultural backgrounds. In view of significant belonging and achievement gaps between minority and majority groups in school, we examine which diversity approaches are communicated by actual school policies and which approaches predict smaller ethnic gaps in student outcomes over time. To derive diversity approaches, we content-analyzed diversity policies from ( n = 66) randomly sampled Belgian middle schools. Cluster analysis yielded different approaches valuing, ignoring, or rejecting cultural diversity in line with multiculturalism, colorblindness, and assimilationism, respectively. We estimated multilevel path models that longitudinally related diversity approaches to ( N = 1,747) minority and ( N = 1,384) majority students’ school belonging and achievement (self-reported grades) 1 year later. Multiculturalism predicted smaller belonging and achievement gaps over time; colorblindness and assimilationism were related to wider achievement and belonging gaps, respectively. Longitudinal effects of colorblindness on achievement were mediated by (less) prior school belonging.

Abstract:Can perceptions of equal treatment buffer the negative effects of threat on the school success of minority students? Focusing on minority adolescents from Turkish and Moroccan heritage in Belgium (M_age = 14.5; N = 735 in 47 ethnically diverse schools), multilevel mediated moderation analyses showed: (1) Perceived discrimination at school predicted lower test performance; (2) Experimentally-manipulated stereotype threat decreased performance (mediated by increased disengagement); (3) Perceived equal treatment at school predicted higher performance (mediated by decreased disengagement); and (4) Personal and peer perceptions of equal treatment buffered negative effects of discrimination and stereotype threat. Thus, (situational) stereotype threat and perceived discrimination at school both undermine minority student success, whereas perceived equal treatment can provide a buffer against such threats.Child Development AbstractCan perceptions of equal treatment buffer the negative effects of threat on the school success of minority students? Focusing on minority adolescents from Turkish and Moroccan heritage in Belgium (M_age = 14.5; N = 735 in 47 ethnically diverse schools), multilevel mediated moderation analyses showed: (1) Perceived discrimination at school predicted lower test performance; (2) Experimentally-manipulated stereotype threat decreased performance (mediated by increased disengagement); (3) Perceived equal treatment at school predicted higher performance (mediated by decreased disengagement); and (4) Personal and peer perceptions of equal treatment buffered negative effects of discrimination and stereotype threat. Thus, (situational) stereotype threat and perceived discrimination at school both undermine minority student success, whereas perceived equal treatment can provide a buffer against such threats. Perceptions of equal treatment buffer threat effects In today's increasingly ethnically and racially diverse schools, immigrant children from an early age are vulnerable to social exclusion and discrimination based on minority group membership (Killen, Mulvey, & Hitti, 2013; Killen & Rutland, 2011). Experiences of social exclusion in adolescence cast a shadow over future developmental outcomes, as they typically predict poor academic engagement and performance (Buhs, Ladd, & Herald, 2006; Killen, Rutland, Abrams, Mulvey, & Hitti, 2013;Wentzel, 2009). Following up on earlier research on intergroup exclusion (Killen, Mulvey, et al., 2013), our research examines the intergroup experiences of Turkish and Moroccan minority adolescents, most of whom areMuslims; and the consequences of these experiences for academic engagement and performance. Focusing on adolescence is important because this is the age when young people's views on society and diversity are formed, as they become increasingly aware of their social standing (Rubin, Bukowski, & Parker, 2006), and hence become more susceptible to identity threat.Identity threat is a key risk factor in adolescence. From a social-identity approach t...

Article (Unspecified) http://sro.sussex.ac.uk Baysu, Gülseli, Phalet, Karen and Brown, Rupert (2013) Relative group size and minority school success: the role of intergroup friendship and discrimination experiences. British Journal of Social Psychology, 53 (2). pp. This version is available from Sussex Research Online: http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/52953/ This document is made available in accordance with publisher policies and may differ from the published version or from the version of record. If you wish to cite this item you are advised to consult the publisher's version. Please see the URL above for details on accessing the published version. Copyright and reuse:Sussex Research Online is a digital repository of the research output of the University.Copyright and all moral rights to the version of the paper presented here belong to the individual author(s) and/or other copyright owners. To the extent reasonable and practicable, the material made available in SRO has been checked for eligibility before being made available.Copies of full text items generally can be reproduced, displayed or performed and given to third parties in any format or medium for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge, provided that the authors, title and full bibliographic details are credited, a hyperlink and/or URL is given for the original metadata page and the content is not changed in any way. From an intergroup relations perspective, relative group size is associated with the quantity and quality of intergroup contact: more positive contact (i.e., intergroup friendship) supports, and negative contact (i.e., experienced discrimination) hampers, minority identity, and school success. Accordingly, we examined intergroup contact as the process through which perceived relative proportions of minority and majority students in school affected minority success (i.e., school performance, satisfaction, and self-efficacy). Turkish minorities (N = 1,060) were compared in four Austrian and Belgian cities which differ in their typical school ethnic composition. Across cities, minority experiences of intergroup contact fully mediated the impact of perceived relative group size on school success. As expected, higher minority presence impaired school success through restricting intergroup friendship and increasing experienced discrimination. The association between minority presence and discrimination was curvilinear, however, so that schools where minority students predominated offered some protection from discrimination. To conclude, the comparative findings reveal positive and negative intergroup contact as key processes that jointly explain when and how higher proportions of minority students affect school success.

Children of immigrants are at risk of underachieving in school with long-lasting consequences for future life-chances. Our research contextualizes the achievement gap by examining minority acculturation experiences in daily intergroup contact across different intergroup contexts. Acculturation researchers often find an adaptive advantage for minority youth with an integration-orientation (combining both cultures). But findings from Europe are inconclusive. Looking beyond individual differences in acculturation-orientations, this review shifts focus to the intergroup context of minority acculturation and achievement. We discuss longitudinal, multi-group, multi-level and experimental evidence of the up-and downsides of integration for minority inclusion and success in European societies. Our studies show that both (1) intergroup contact experiences and (2) intergroup ideologies affect achievementeither directly or through the interplay of (3) acculturation-norms, defined as shared views on acculturation in social groups, with individual acculturation-orientations. The findings suggest how schools can reduce achievement gaps through improving intergroup relations.