CRIS Scientific Seminar 2022-2023

Friday, January 27th 2023, 11:30 am
Sciences Po (1, place Saint-Thomas-d'Aquin) - Room K008

Social Diversity at School, Academic Performances, and Social Skills:
Evidence From a French Desegregation Experiment

Élise Huillery

Full Professor,  Université Paris-Dauphine (PSL)

This presentation examines whether desegregation at school may benefit all students and reduce social inequality in educational outcomes.

We exploit a national initiative launched by the French Ministry of Education to desegregate voluntary middle schools, and matched these schools with similar schools, which have not engaged into desegregation.
In the more segregated schools, the program was successful at increasing the exposure of low-SES to high-SES students, and conversely. Absolute academic performance of students from both background-types was not affected by the program, although the pre-existing gap in relative rank and academic self-esteem between both types of students widened.
We also show that desegregation improved students’ social relationships: it induced more diverse friendship networks, and low-SES students report better school climate, higher quality of relationships with friends, and a greater feeling of safety at school, while leaving the one of high-SES students unchanged.
Finally, we find some improvements in students’ values in favor of cooperation and solidarity. Overall, school desegregation brings social benefits, without negatively affecting the academic performance of any group.

Registration is mandatory. Thank you.

To find out more: https://dauphine.psl.eu/recherche/cvtheque/huillery-elise