Dr. Melanie Olczyk

Educational Decisions and Processes, Migration, Returns to Education | Educational Trajectories of refugee children and adolescents
Educational Decisions and Processes, Migration, Returns to Education | Migration

Vita

03/2026 – Today
Research Associate (Postdoctoral Fellow) at Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories (LIfBi)
05/2021– 03/2026
Research Associate (Postdoctoral Fellow) in the junior research group "Educational Integration of Refugee Children and Youth in Germany" (EDIREG), funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF; since summer 2025, BMBFSFJ)
10/2019– 12/2023
Fellow at the College for Interdisciplinary Educational Research (CIDER), an initiative of the Leibniz Education Research Network (LERN) and the Jacobs Foundation
02/2019– 06/2021
Research Associate (Postdoctoral Fellow) in the project "The Development of Inequalities in Child Educational Achievement: A Six Country Study (DICE)", funded by Open Research Area (ORA)/German Research Foundation (DFG)
08/2017– 07/2019
Research Associate (Postdoctoral Fellow) in the project "Educational Aspirations of Migrants and their Descendants in the Educational Path: Migration-Related Explanatory Approaches and Their Empirical Examination" “, funded by DFG
07/2017
PhD (Dr. rer. pol.) at the University of Bamberg
03/2017– 02/2019
Research Associate (Postdoctoral Fellow) at the Chair of Sociology, particularly Social Structure Analysis, at the University of Bamberg
03/2016– 02/2017
Full-time scholarship from the Bamberg Graduate School of Social Sciences (BAGSS)
01/2014– 04/2016
Research Associate at the Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories (LIfBi), NEPS
11/2010– 12/2013
Research Associate in Pillar 4 (Education Acquisition of Persons with Migration Background) at NEPS, at the University of Bamberg
10/2010– 12/2010
Research Associate at the Chair of Sociology, particularly Social Structure Analysis, at the University of Bamberg
10/2008– 09/2010
Research Associate in the Free Floater junior research group "Ethnic Educational Inequality" (established as part of the University of Göttingen's Excellence Initiative, under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Cornelia Kristen)
04/2008– 09/2008
Research Associate in the project "Social Capital and the Dynamics of Migration Movements: The Case of Polish-German Migration", funded by the DFG

Research interests

  • Sociology of Education
  • Social, gender- and migration-related educational inequalities
  • Migration, integration, and educational participation
  • Vergleichende Analyse gegenwärtiger Gesellschaften mit Schwerpunkt Bildung
  • Institutional determinants of educational opportunity

    • Publications

    2025

    Olczyk, M., Daniel, A., Glinka, H., & Werner, K. (2025). Social and migration-related inequalities at the transition from primary to lower secondary education in Germany: The role of parents’ knowledge of the education system. Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie, 77(3), 355-391. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11577-025-01018-9
    Olczyk, M., Heppt, B., Winkler, O., Schipolowski, S., & Edele, A. (2025). Academic achievement of refugee students at the end of primary school in Germany. Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft, 28(4), 557-579. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11618-025-01315-1
    Volodina, A., & Olczyk, M. (2025). Socioeconomic status and well-being in elementary school: An evaluation of different indicators of socioeconomic status. Child Indicators Research, 18(5), 1495-1525. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-025-10258-2

    2024

    Gentrup, S., Olczyk, M., & Lorenz, G. (2024). Teacher stereotypes and teacher expectations at the intersection of student gender and socioeconomic status. Zeitschrift für Entwicklungspsychologie und Pädagogische Psychologie, 56(1-2), 87-102. https://doi.org/10.1026/0049-8637/a000291
    Schmaus, M., Olczyk, M., Neumeyer, S., & Will, G. (2024). High realistic aspirations – do normative pressures overthrow rational calculations? Applying the model of frame selection to the educational aspirations of immigrant and majority students in Germany. Rationality and Society, 36(1), 34-65. https://doi.org/10.1177/10434631231208989

    2023

    de la Rie, S., Washbrook, E., Perinetti Casoni, V., Waldfogel, J., Kwon, S. J., Dräger, J., Schneider, T., Olczyk, M., Boinet, C., & Keizer, R. (2023). The role of energy balance related behaviors in socioeconomic inequalities in childhood body mass index: A comparative analysis of Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Social Science & Medicine, 317, Article 115575. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.115575
    Dräger, J., Schneider, T., Olczyk, M., Solaz, A., Sheridan, A., Washbrook, E., Perinetti Casoni, V., Kwon, S. J., & Waldfogel, J. (2023). The relevance of tracking and social school composition for growing achievement gaps by parental education in lower secondary school: A longitudinal analysis in France, Germany, the United States, and England. European Sociological Review, 40(6), 964–980. https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcad076
    Olczyk, M., Gentrup, S., Schneider, T., Volodina, A., Perinetti Casoni, V., Washbrook, E., Kwon, S. J., & Waldfogel, J. (2023). Teacher judgements and gender achievement gaps in primary education in England, Germany, and the US. Social Science Research, 116, Article 102938. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2023.102938
    Olczyk, M., Kwon, S. J., Lorenz, G., Perinetti Casoni, V., Schneider, T., Volodina, A., Waldfogel, J., & Washbrook, E. (2023). Teacher judgements, student social background, and student progress in primary school: A cross-country perspective. Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft, 26(2), 443-468. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11618-022-01119-7
    Waldfogel, J., Kwon, S. J., Wang, Y., Washbrook, L., Perinetti Casoni, V., Olczyk, M., Schneider, T., Panico, L., Solaz, A., Weinert, S., Volodina, A., de la Rie, S., Keizer, R., Nozaki, K., Yamashita, J., Kameyama, Y., & Akabayashi, H. (2023). Inequalities in resources for preschool‑age children by parental education: Evidence from six advanced industrialized countries. European Journal of Population, 39, Article 37. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10680-023-09685-0
    Waldfogel, J., Kwon, S. J., Washbrook, E., Perinetti Casoni, V., Olczyk, M., Schneider, T., Panico, L., Solaz, A., Weinert, S., Volodina, A., de la Rie, S., Keizer, R., Nozaki, K., Yamashita, J., Kameyama, Y., & Akabayashi, H. (2023). Inequalities in resources for preschool-age children by parental education: Evidence from six advanced industrialized countries. European Journal of Population, 39, Article 37. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10680-023-09685-0

    2022

    Neumeyer, S., Olczyk, M., Schmaus, M., & Will, G. (2022). Reducing or widening the gap? How the educational aspirations and expectations of Turkish and majority families develop during lower secondary education in Germany. Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie, 74(2), 259–285. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11577-022-00844-5

    2021

    Olczyk, M., Schneider, T., Washbrook, E., Akabayashi, H., de la Rie, S., Boinet, C., Kameyama, Y., Keizer, R., Nozaki, K., Panico, L., Perinetti Casoni, V., Shikishima, C., Solaz, A., Volodina, A., Yamashita, J., Waldfogel, J., & Weinert, S. (2021). National context and socioeconomic inequalities in educational achievement - An overview of six high-income countries: France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, and United States, Paris, Ined, Document de travail, 267 (INED Working Papers No. 267). https://pure.eur.nl/en/publications/national-context-and-socioeconomic-inequalities-in-educational-ac

    2019

    Olczyk, M., & Will, G. (2019). Measuring knowledge about the German education system in NEPS (NEPS Survey Paper No. 56). Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories, National Educational Panel Study. https://doi.org/10.5157/NEPS:SP56:1.0

    2018

    Olczyk, M. (2018). Ethnische Einbettung und schulischer Erfolg: Zur Bedeutung ethnisch segregierter Lebenswelten für den Bildungserwerb von Kindern mit Zuwanderungshintergrund. Springer VS. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-21132-5

    2016

    Kristen, C., Olczyk, M., & Will, G. (2016). Identifying immigrants and their descendants in the National Educational Panel Study. In H.-P. Blossfeld, J. von Maurice, M. Bayer, & J. Skopek (Hrsg.), Methodological issues of longitudinal surveys: The example of the National Educational Panel Study (S. 195–211). Springer VS. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-11994-2_12
    Olczyk, M., Seuring, J., Will, G., & Zinn, S. (2016). Migranten und ihre Nachkommen im deutschen Bildungssystem: Ein aktueller Überblick. In C. Diehl, C. Hunkler, & C. Kristen (Hrsg.), Ethnische Ungleichheiten im Bildungsverlauf : Mechanismen, Befunde, Debatten (S. 33–70). Springer VS. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-04322-3_2
    Olczyk, M., Will, G., & Kristen, C. (2016). Immigrants in the NEPS: Identifying generation status and group of origin [Supplemental material] (NEPS Working Paper No. 41a). Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories; National Educational Panel Study (NEPS). https://www.neps-data.de/Portals/0/Working%20Papers/Supplement_WP_XLIa.pdf
    Olczyk, M., Will, G., & Kristen, C. (2016). Immigrants in the NEPS: Identifying generation status and group of origin (NEPS Survey Paper No. 4). Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories, National Educational Panel Study. https://doi.org/10.5157/NEPS:SP04:1.0
    Olczyk, M., Will, G., & Kristen, C. (2016). Personen mit Zuwanderungshintergrund im NEPS: Zur Bestimmung von Generationenstatus und Herkunftsgruppe [Supplemental material] (NEPS Working Paper No. 41b). Leibniz-Institut für Bildungsverläufe e.V.. https://www.neps-data.de/Portals/0/Working%20Papers/Supplement_WP_XLIb.pdf
    Wenz, S. E., Olczyk, M., & Lorenz, G. (2016). Measuring teachers' stereotypes in the NEPS (NEPS Survey Paper No. 3). Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories, National Educational Panel Study. https://doi.org/10.5157/NEPS:SP03:1.0
    Will, G., Olczyk, M., & Kristen, C. (2016). NEPS-Datensatz (Nationales Bildungspanel). In D. Maehler, & H. U. Brinkmann (Hrsg.), Methoden der Migrationsforschung: Ein interdisziplinärer Forschungsleitfaden (S. 345–364). Springer VS. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-10394-1_12

    2014

    Olczyk, M., Will, G., & Kristen, C. (2014). Immigrants in the NEPS: Identifying generation status and group of origin (NEPS Working Paper No. 41a). Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories. https://doi.org/10.5157/NEPS:WP41a:1.0
    Olczyk, M., Will, G., & Kristen, C. (2014). Personen mit Zuwanderungshintergrund im NEPS: Zur Bestimmung von Generationenstatus und Herkunftsgruppe (NEPS Working Paper No. 41b). Leibniz-Institut für Bildungsverläufe. https://doi.org/10.5157/NEPS:WP41b:1.0

    Selected presentations and lectures

    2014

    Olczyk, M., & Will, G. (5. März 2014). Bildungserwerb von Kindern mit Zuwanderungshintergrund im Generationenverlauf [Vortrag]. 2. Tagung der Gesellschaft für Empirische Bildungsforschung, Frankfurt am Main, de.

    2013

    Olczyk, M. (15. Dezember 2013). Ethnische Einbettung und interethnische Bildungsunterschiede [Vortrag]. Vortrag im Rahmen der Tagung der Forschungsdesiderate im Feld von „Bildung und Region“, Bamberg, de.
    Will, G., & Olczyk, M. (20. März 2013). Migranten im Bildungssystem - Ein Überblick über das NEPS und seine Analysepotentiale für die Integrationsforschung [Vortrag]. Vortrag im Rahmen der Fachtagung für Soziologie-Lehrkräfte der bayerischen Fachakademien für Sozialpädagogik, Nürnberg, de.