On the basis of the data provided by the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), the authors examine which factors lead to the existing ethnic inequalities within the German educational system. The theoretical perspective chosen here combines a life-span approach with a human capital approach. The significance of the intergenerational transmission of education as cultural capital in combination with economic and social capital is analyzed in the specific situation of migration. The multiple regression analyses revealed that the link between the educational achievement of migrant children and the economic and cultural capital of the family of origin was significantly positive, however, it is a very weak link. The analysis of the impact of integration-specific variables on the school career of migrant children showed that the probability of a migrant child passing the final examination at a secondary school depends to a high degree on family background variables. Disparities in the educational achievement of migrant children of different nationality are largely due to the respective forms of familial conditions of socialization which vary systematically with nationality. Effects of discrimination or of institutional settings, however, could not be ascertained.

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