Urban and school segregation in Paris: The complexity of contextual effects on school achievement: The case of middle schools in the Paris metropolitan area

In French cities, because of a rigid school catchment area policy based on students’ place of residence, there is a strong correlation between socio-residential segregation and school segregation. But the latter is not merely a simple, mechanical reflection of the former. Many processes (the choice of private schools or of specific and very often selective and rare curricula that make it possible to avoid the local public middle school; disability; siblings; personal convenience) contribute to exacerbating the correlation. Using data from the Ministry of Education, the current paper develops a typology of middle schools according to their socio-economic composition (using Correspondence Analysis and Hierarchical Agglomerative Classification), and looks at their unequal spatial distribution across the Paris metropolitan area. We measure school segregation using classical indices, and show that school segregation is higher than socio-residential segregation, particularly for students from upper-middle class backgrounds and for students from working class backgrounds. The spatial analysis of segregation, when compared with test scores, reveals strong inequalities between locations. The impact of school segregation on school success has been mainly analysed in terms of the effect of students’ social background. If one looks at the number of top tier marks (‘mention bien et très bien’) obtained at the final middle school exam in the Paris metropolitan area from 2006 to 2012, it is possible to see that girls and boys are not equally sensitive to these contextual effects. Based on logistic regressions, the analysis of the interactions between individual characteristics (socio-economic background and gender) and contextual variables (the school’s status [private/public], its location, its socio-economic composition) gives a more complex picture. This raises both methodological and political questions that suggest the need for an intersectional approach. Such a finding presents a challenge not only for social scientists studying segregation and school inequalities, but also for policy makers who want to reinforce mixed schooling.

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Nierówności edukacyjne i szkolne segregacje czyli szkoła publiczna wobec wyzwań spójności społecznej w lokalnym systemie edukacji

10.31338/2657-6007.kp.2021-1.2 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 19-53

Author(s):

Roman Dolata

Keyword(s):

Social Status ◽

Educational Aspirations ◽

School Achievement ◽

Preschool Education ◽

Social Background ◽

The Other ◽

Family Status ◽

Financial Capacity ◽

Other Hand ◽

The Impact

Challenges that schools face in relation to social cohesion include the need to minimise the impact of students’ social background on their educational career and ensuring that the public school is a place of contact between children from different social groups and class. Research supporting local policy in this area should therefore monitor the social status-based determinants of students’ educational careers and other processes of intentional as well as spontaneous between school and between classroom segregation. The following facts were found in the local educational system analysed. The measures of SES dimensions of students’ family are significantly related to their school achievement. In Ostrołęka, this connection was found to be considerably stronger than the national average. However, which is certainly an optimistic result, the financial resources of the students’ families, with other SES dimensions controlled, did not affect school achievement. Parents’ educational aspirations for their children, on the other hand, are related to all aspects of socio-economic status. In this case, also the financial capacity of the students’ families is significantly related to the level of these aspirations. Including students’ school grades along with the SES dimensions in the analysis of the determinants of educational aspirations shows that they determine aspirations to the same degree as family status does. Sadly, there is no evidence that pre-school education helps low SES students catch up with their peers with high SES families. This means that the key to effectively support the development of children from educationally at-risk backgrounds is in the quality of preschool education and not just its universality. Schools in Ostrołęka differ in their social composition in terms of the parents’ education status and the financial capacity of their families, but the scale of these differences is not considerable. On the other hand, between classroom within school differentiation due to parents’ social status is in some schools much stronger than inter-school differences, which poses a serious problem.

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School Administration Manager: Redefining the Principal's Role as an Instructional Leader

Journal of School Leadership ◽

10.1177/105268461702700105 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 27 (1) ◽

pp. 119-142

Author(s):

Zhaohui Sheng ◽

Lora Wolff ◽

Lloyd Kilmer ◽

Stuart Yager

Keyword(s):

Middle School ◽

Instructional Leadership ◽

School Administration ◽

Focus Group Interview ◽

Positive Impact ◽

School Achievement ◽

Instructional Leader ◽

School Level ◽

Principal's Role ◽

The Impact

In response to an increasing emphasis on instructional leadership and school achievement, the School Administration Manager (SAM) model was introduced as a change strategy to release principals from managerial responsibilities so that more time can be devoted to instructional leadership. The study collected and analyzed survey and focus group interview data to evaluate the impact of SAMs on principals’ management and instructional leadership. In addition, the study examined if school level (elementary or middle school) affects the impact of SAMs. Results illustrate SAMs have a positive impact on management and instructional leadership and the impact was stronger at the middle school level.

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The Role of Residence in School Segregation: Placing the Impact of Parental Choice in Perspective

Environment and Planning A Economy and Space ◽

10.1068/a34123 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 33 (10) ◽

pp. 1829-1852 ◽

Cited By ~ 31

Author(s):

Chris Taylor ◽

Stephen Gorard

Keyword(s):

United Kingdom ◽

Residential Segregation ◽

Parental Choice ◽

School Segregation ◽

Number Of Children ◽

The United Kingdom ◽

Catchment Areas ◽

Socioeconomic Segregation ◽

The Impact

There have been many claims that the introduction of parental choice for schools in the United Kingdom would lead to further socioeconomic segregation between schools. However, little evidence of this has actually emerged. Instead during the first half of the 1990s, in particular, the number of children living in poverty became more equally distributed between UK secondary schools. Part of the explanation for this lies with the prior arrangements for allocating children to schools, typically based upon designated catchment areas. In this paper we argue that the degree of residential segregation that exists in England ensured that schools were already highly segregated before the introduction of market reforms to education, and has continued to be the chief determinant of segregation since. We then suggest that the School Standards and Framework Act 1998, which advocates a return to the use of catchment areas and distance to school when allocating places in oversubscribed schools, may be leading inadvertently to increased socioeconomic segregation between schools.

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An Examination of Middle School Organizational Structures in the United States and Australia

Education Sciences ◽

10.3390/educsci8040168 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 8 (4) ◽

pp. 168 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Cheryl Ellerbrock ◽

Katherine Main ◽

Kristina Falbe ◽

Dana Pomykal Franz

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Middle School ◽

Middle Schools ◽

Organizational Structures ◽

The United States ◽

Successful Implementation ◽

Middle Years ◽

School Practices ◽

Key Characteristics ◽

The Impact

The middle school concept, aimed at creating a more developmentally responsive learning environment for young adolescents, gained a stronghold in the later part of the 20th century. Proponents of this concept have argued continually for the holistic implementation of its six key characteristics if its benefits are to be realized. These characteristics include: (a) a challenging, integrative, and exploratory curriculum; (b) varied teaching and learning approaches; (c) assessment and evaluation that promote learning; (d) flexible organizational structures (i.e., including the physical space, scheduling, and grouping of students and teachers); (e) programs and policies that foster health, wellness and safety; and (f) comprehensive guidance and support services. Recently, Ellerbrock, Falbe, and Pomykal Franz identified key middle school organizational structures of people, place, and time as being interconnected and integral to effective middle school practices. Main also demonstrated the interconnected nature of these key characteristics and how organizational structures of people affected the successful implementation of other characteristics. Thus, how these organizational structures can and are being implemented has implications for our understanding of the effectiveness of other middle school practices. In this paper, researchers from both the United States and Australia examine and compare literature published between 2000 and 2018 addressing ways in which middle school/middle years organizational structures have been reported and categorized by structures of people, place, and time in these two countries. Pertinent literature related to organizational structures of middle schools in the United States and to middle years education in Australia was examined. Findings from studies and evaluations from each country are reported to provide an international perspective on the organizational structures of middle schools/middle years education across the two countries. Overall, since 2000, the body of knowledge about middle schools/middle years organizational structures has been surprisingly limited in comparison to their perceived importance in the field. This lack of research is concerning in the midst of educational reform in both countries, resulting in questions about the impact of school organizational structures on young adolescent development and learning.

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