Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

This paper is an updated version of a 2014 paper in which I use national data to tease out the contribution of ethnic composition to the ‘London Effect’.  Specifically the aim is to explore the  statistical contribution of the ethnic composition of London students  relative to that of the rest of England to the differentially high progress of London students. I use national data for the year 2012/13 on student performance on the GCSE exams taken at the end of compulsory education at age 16. In addition, I analyze data on the performance of recent immigrants and confirm the patterns for the prior decade. The results confirm that the performance of London secondary students on standard measures is higher than the rest of England and that the gap is 9.8% of a standard deviation. Moreover, I conclude that the difference is entirely accounted for by ethnic composition, that is, by the fact that London has a far higher proportion of high performing ethnic groups than the rest of England.  The prior decade of results shows the same result. For other measures of attainment, I show the London premium is halved but remains significant.  The explanation for these patterns is that that , despite their poverty, ethnic minority students have greater ambition, aspirations, and work harder in schools than other student.