Evaluation of the impact of catchment area and pupil allocation procedures in secondary schools in the Île-de-France region

Context

Changes in the social and educational composition of public and private upper secondary schools in Île-de-France are taking place against a backdrop of profound changes to the rules governing the allocation of pupils to upper secondary schools. This transformation is the result of two distinct reforms:

a) the relaxation of school catchment areas in state lower and upper secondary schools, introduced at the start of the 2007 academic year;

b) the introduction, in the second half of the 2000s, of the automated allocation system Affelnet, which is used primarily to allocate pupils after Year 9.

Despite the significance of these institutional upheavals, very little quantitative data is currently available to accurately assess the impact of these reforms on the social and academic composition of upper secondary schools in the Île-de-France region.

Presentation

This study comprises two parts. The first part will assess the impact of catchment area and school allocation procedures on social and academic diversity in upper secondary schools in the Île-de-France region, whilst endeavouring to distinguish between factors relating to the school choice preferences expressed by families and those relating to the processing of these preferences through the procedures and various priority criteria (scholarship holders, local area, siblings, etc.) that have been implemented in the various local education authorities. This distinction is essential in order to attempt to measure the specific contribution of school supply and demand in explaining the level of social and academic segregation prevailing in upper secondary schools in the Île-de-France region. The second part of the study will focus on the factors that increase or, conversely, tend to reduce social and educational diversity within schools (the role of school provision, multi-purpose schools, intra-school segregation, etc.)

Research Team

This project is led by the pole Education.

Gabrielle Fack

Son Thierry Ly

Arnaud Riegert

Eric Maurin

Julien Grenet

Publication

Slideshow, 2 July 2014: presentation of the study at the 4th Workshop of the Observatory on Social Diversity and Academic Success (Chamber of the Île-de-France Regional Council). Authors: Gabrielle Fack, Julien Grenet, Asma Benhenda.