Trends in educational disadvantage in Dutch primary school

The central question in this study is whether the language and math delays of the different socio-economic and ethnic minority groups targeted by Dutch educational disadvantage policy have diminished or not. Data are from the years 1995, 1999, 2003 and 2008. Information from a total of 90,000 pupils in Grades 2 and 8 was selected to represent the start and end points of primary education. The conclusion is that large differences exist between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged pupils at the start of primary school. Minority target group pupils have a substantial language delay. In the last year of primary school, this delay has diminished somewhat but it is still substantial. In the period 1995-2008 the delays of the minority target group pupils have declined by more than 40%. Part of the non-minority target group pupils also made gains, but these are less than those observed for the minority target group pupils. Moreover, for the period 2003-2008, the relative position of the non-minority target group pupils with regard to their language skills can be seen to deteriorate.