School segregation and polarization processes: the influence of school zoning policies

Resumen

This paper assesses the influence of different policies of school zonification (i.e. local policies that sort students into different schools on the basis of the delimitation of areas of proximity) on school social segregation and school polarization dynamics. Using the school segregation index and the school polarization level we analyze how different groups of pupils (basing on family educational capital and country of birth) are distributed among primary public funding schools –public and private schools- in a sample of ten municipalities of Catalonia. Our results suggest that certain zonification models − such as the model that assigns a single catchment area per single school − tend to reproduce –or increase- the patterns of residential segregation into the school network social configuration. Others, however, establish certain objective conditions to access to school that favour a reduction in school segregation and polarization. This occurs when more than one public school and more than one private dependent school are assigned the same catchment area. These results have clear implications for the policy debate concerning educational equality and equity.