Differentiation within Integration. Grade Postponement of Newly Arrived Migrants in the Italian School System

Educational systems have different strategies to deal with the increased presence of newly arrived migrant students. In this chapter, we examine the practice of grade postponement—i.e. the allocation of students to a grade below their age-appropriate level—as a school-level policy applied to deal with the low competences, in particular linguistic, of newcomers, within an integrated school system. By analysing data for the full population of first-generation students attending fifth grade in Italy in 2021/2022 (N = 12,218) and replicating our analyses on a sample of first-generation students attending sixth- and seventh-grade in 2014/2015 (N = 5,099), we investigate the main individual, family, and school determinants of grade postponement. Our findings reveal that, although the main predictor for grade postponement is age at arrival, this practice is highly socially stratified. Unexpectedly, linguistic groups that are closer to Italian are more likely to be postponed than linguistically distant ones. Although the Italian law leaves substantial leeway to schools in the criteria to apply when deciding grade placement for newly arrived migrant students, school characteristics do not seem to influence the prevalence of grade postponement decisions, which are widespread throughout the Italian educational system.