Socioeconomic school segregation in Canary Islands

ABSTRACT

This study provides evidence about the degree of socioeconomic segregation in Spain’s primary schools. In particular, the analysis is based on data from Canary Islands, a Spanish region with low level of academic performance and high level of students enrolled in fully public schools. The approach used to study school segregation deepens on the contribution of the type of school funding to the overall school segregation, which is addressed using the Hutchens Index. Results suggest that differences between fully state-funded schools and private schools account for 20–30% of the total level of segregation.

KEYWORDS:

• School segregation
• socioeconomic status
• Hutchens index
• public schools
• private schools

JEL CLASSIFICATION:

• D63
• I21

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

¹ The resulting sample shows a very similar stratification to the population of sixth grade students in Canary Islands.

² Weights are positive functions of the share of students in each socioeconomic group in the population and within each type of schooling. The formula is $w_s=\sqrt{\frac{a_s}{A}\frac{b_s}{B}}$, where $s$ is the type of schooling (public or private); $a_s$and $b_s$ are the proportion of students in each socioeconomic group within $s$ type of schooling; A and B are the proportion of students in each socioeconomic group in the population.

³ Tables available upon request from the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The authors acknowledge the data provided by the and the training received from the University of Malaga PhD Program in Economics and Business [Programa de Doctorado en Economía y Empresa de la Universidad de Malaga];Consejería de Economía, Innovación, Ciencia y Empleo, Junta de Andalucía [SEJ-645];Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (Spain) [ECO2017-88883-R];Claudia Prieto Latorre acknowledges the scholarship FPU2017-00432 of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte [FPU2017-00432];FEDER-JUNTA DE ANDALUCÍA [UMA18FEDERJA024];Agencia Canaria de Calidad Universitaria y Evaluación Educativa [Data provider];Universidad de Málaga [PhD Program in Economics and Business].