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This study examines the effects of cultural capital on the achievement of Israeli natives and of immigrants from the Former Soviet Union. We hypothesize that teachers are insensitive to cultural distinctions among immigrants. Therefore, they do not reward culturally endowed immigrants to the same extent as native students with similar levels of cultural capital. To test this hypothesis, we use data provided by 4th, 9th, and 11th graders as well as their mothers and estimate linear models to compare the effects of cultural capital on test scores, measuring knowledge, and on grades, indicating teachers' evaluation of students' performance. The results largely support our hypothesis. The effects of cultural capital on test scores do not vary between immigrant and native students. In contrast, these two groups differ markedly in the effects of cultural capital on teachers' evaluations: grades assigned to native students are positively related to cultural capital, whereas this relationship is much weaker or nil among immigrants.
Leopold et al. (Tue,) studied this question.