School segregation in Latin America: Informing educational policy

• In Event: School segregation in Latin America: From macro to micro-placed perspective

Abstract

Socioeconomic segregation in school systems reflects inequalities in societies, often related to income disparities, residential segregation and, also, the specific policies and arrangements of the school systems. School segregation has been a policy concern in Chile, but has not been widely studied in the rest of the countries of such a region. This presentation aims at analyzing the levels of socioeconomic segregation among schools using data for 14 countries in Latin America, from the SERCE study. Results coming from the estimation of segregation indexes (Duncan) show that—in line with the figures on inequality in the region—school segregation is a widespread phenomenon, reaching in some countries levels of hyper-segregation. Such findings pose challenges for the education and school policies of the region, where the vast majority of children attend public schools. In spite of sharing the same education system, it is highly improbable that low, mid and high socioeconomic status children can share during their lives in the same school. The presentation discusses both the social and educational implications of these characteristics of the Latin American school systems.

Author

• Ernesto Trevino, Center for Comparative Education Policies, Universidad Diego Portales