During the recent years, the difference between native students and students with an immigration background in educational assessment studies have provoked public discussion in many countries around the world. In Finland, this performance gap has been particularly large (OECD 2019; 2023) and research initiatives have been launched to study the reasons behind it. Earlier international research has shown that performance differences are often explained by differences in socioeconomic background (e.g. Dai et al. 2023; Ziegler, Luo & Stoege 2023; Kirjavainen & Pulkkinen 2017), deficits in the language of instruction (Schnepf 2007), gender (Karakaus, Courtney & Aydin 2023) and reading fluency (Pulkkinen et al. 2024). For first generation immigration students, the results have also been predicted by the age of arrival in the country (Pulkkinen et al. 2024). In addition, there is evidence that students’ effort measured by time spent on assessment is strong factor explaining the academic performance of students with an immigration background (Agirdag & Vanlaar 2016). However, in any assessment studies, student performance is simultaneously influenced by many kinds of factors, and there is clear a lack of research gathering systematically together evidence on the factors explaining the gap. Therefore, the aim of this study was to conduct a systematic literature review on empirical research on the factors predicting the learning outcomes of students with immigrant background. 

As we were interested in the interplay of factors at different levels in explaining learning outcomes, we chose Bronfenbrenner’s (1988) ecological systems theory as our framework. The theory implies that human development is influenced by interconnected layers, the so-called micro, meso, exo and macrosystems (complemented by chronosystem, which, however, will not be addressed in the present study). At the micro level, development is influenced by the person’s immediate social environments (e.g., family, classmates and classroom activities, friends), which are also influencing each other (mesosystem). In the context of this study, the exo level refers to for instance local level education policies, practices and cultures, which influence the circumstances (e.g., class composition and school segregation) and practical teaching arrangements shaping the learning situations. The broader cultural values, ideologies and for instance national legislation influencing educational goals and implementation of education are considered here as representing macrosystems. Within this framework, the research questions of the study were:

1. Which factors predicting the academic performance of students with an immigrant background have been identified in empirical studies published between 2000 and 2024?
2. How are these factors classified across the micro-, meso-, exo- and macro-levels of Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological systems theory?

According to the PRISMA guidelines (Page et al. 2021), we conducted a systematic literature review to identify empirical studies examining factors predicting the academic performance of students with an immigration background. The review consisted of international peer-reviewed studies published between January 2000 and April 2024. Only studies published in English were included. A comprehensive literature search was carried out using the EBSCO and PROQUEST databases, restricted to education-related databases within these platforms. The search was conducted across the full text of the articles using the following search string: ("learning outcome" OR "learning achievement") AND ("immig*" OR "foreign born*”) **. The initial search yielded 3,348 records. After removing duplicates, titles and abstracts were screened based on predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Studies were included if they (a) focused on primary or secondary school students with an immigration background, (b) measured academic performance using a cognitive test or standardized assessment, and (c) analysed predictors of academic performance using quantitative or mixed methods approaches. Studies were excluded if they focused on Indigenous peoples or exchange students, examined perceptions or attitudes without linking them to measured learning outcomes, were not related to education or training, were conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, or were literature reviews, conceptual papers, or methodological studies. Following title and abstract screening, full-text articles were assessed for eligibility. This process resulted in a final sample of 45 empirical studies included in the review. The study selection process followed the PRISMA flow diagram, documenting each stage of identification, screening, eligibility, and inclusion. Data extraction was conducted using a structured coding framework. From each included study, information was extracted on publication year, country or region, educational level, academic domain, operationalisation of immigration background, outcome measures, and predictors of academic performance. The extracted predictors were analysed using a theory-driven qualitative content analysis (Elo & Kyngäs 2008) guided by Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological systems theory (Bronfenbrenner 1988). Predictors were categorised into micro-, meso-, exo- and macro-levels according to the level at which they were described as influencing students’ learning outcomes. The coding process was iterative, allowing refinement of categories as analysis progressed (Elo & Kyngäs 2008). When predictors could plausibly be assigned to multiple ecological levels, classification decisions were guided by the primary level of influence emphasised in the original study. Due to heterogeneity in study designs, outcome measures, and analytical methods, the results were synthesised narratively rather than through meta-analytic techniques (Higgins et al. 2023).

The results indicate that the learning outcomes of students with an immigration background are shaped by an interplay of individual-, family-, classroom-, school- and country-level predictors. The included studies were predominantly conducted in Europe (42%) and North America (36%), with fewer studies originating from Asia, Australia, or international comparative contexts. Most studies focused on lower secondary education (53%) and primary education (31%), while upper secondary education was only marginally represented. In terms of academic domains, most studies examined academic performance in mathematics (27%), reading literacy (22%), or a combination of literacy and mathematics (29%). Fewer studies addressed outcomes in science or multiple subject areas simultaneously. Immigration background was most operationalised using students’ country of birth (58%), followed by language-related indicators (20%), while race-based definitions were less frequently applied. The findings were analysed using Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological systems theory, categorising predictors across micro-, meso-, exo- and macro-levels. At the micro-level, individual student characteristics (e.g. gender, motivation) were frequently associated with academic performance. Meso-level factors included family background and home–schoolinteractions, while exo-level factors encompassed school-level characteristics (e.g. school resources), and macro-level factors related to national contexts (e.g. integration policies).

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