Italy’s schools, rather than promoting inclusion, often reinforce inequality. The 2025 INVALSI assessments reveal that students with migrant backgrounds are more than twice as likely to fail to reach minimum proficiency levels in Italian and Mathematics as their native peers. Even when they catch up, they typically need two extra years of study.
The migrant background remains a major disadvantage: whether born in Italy or abroad, students with immigrant parents score lower in core subjects. The exception is English, where bilingualism gives them an advantage.
Gaps appear early — by second grade, foreign-born pupils score nearly 20 percentage points lower in Italian; among second-generation students, the gap is 17 points. Though it narrows in later years, it remains significant.
By middle school, first-generation students lag behind by about two academic years. At high school, the gap shrinks but persists: –19 points in Italian and –8.5 in Math for first-generation, –9 and –6.4 for second-generation students.
Surprisingly, at graduation, the gap nearly disappears — under 10 points in Italian and 4 in Math — and foreign students even show lower implicit dropout rates (7.1%) than Italians (8%). A sign, experts note, that those who overcome early obstacles do so with remarkable resilience and determination.