Although school is usually considered the most promising institution for the social and economic integration of young people of migration background, the educational outcomes of young people of Ecuadorian background signal a broken promise. Their families, peers, and teachers mediate the effect of the intersections of age, gender, class and ethnicity. Using 15 biographical interviews and 10 expert interviews, this paper studies the role of schools in social mobility and integration under the circumstances of high levels of school attrition, rampant youth unemployment, lack of absorption of migrants' human capital and relative poverty. The findings point at different levels of institutional discrimination related to the curriculum, teacher-student relationship, peer relations and family factors.