The Sourdun Internat d’excellence opened its doors at the start of the 2009 academic year. It devotes significant resources to secondary school pupils from modest backgrounds with average academic ability. In 2009 and 2010, the boarding school received more applications than it had places available: a random draw amongst the eligible pupils was used to select a group admitted to the boarding school and a perfectly comparable control group. This report presents the results of a follow-up study of the pupils’ educational careers; all of them have now reached the age to sit the baccalaureate. Whilst 47 per cent of pupils in the control group obtained the general baccalaureate, the figure stands at 68 per cent amongst those admitted to Sourdun. This increase of 21 percentage points is partly due to a reduction in the number leaving school without a qualification (this effect is observed mainly among girls) and partly due to a shift from the technological baccalaureate to the general baccalaureate (this effect is observed mainly among boys). These results show that it is possible to radically transform the educational trajectories of pupils from modest backgrounds, thereby challenging the notion that education policies are powerless in the face of inequality. However, by investing significant resources in pupils at an intermediate level, Sourdun leaves open the question of what measures should be taken for the pupils facing the greatest difficulties.
Passing the baccalaureate: the impact of the Sourdun internat d’excellence on pupils’ academic performance
Presentation
Key Results
Attending the Sourdun internat d’excellence radically transforms pupils’ academic careers, leading them much more frequently to the general baccalaureate – often achieved with honours – and to the science stream (Section S). The effect is particularly marked for pupils who joined Sourdun straight from middle school / lower secondary school, whose career plans were less defined than those of pupils applying from upper secondary school.
For boys, the general baccalaureate mainly replaces the technological baccalaureate; for girls, it replaces leaving school without a qualification.
This programme targets pupils from modest backgrounds with average academic performance, but leaves open the question of what measures should be taken for pupils facing the greatest difficulties.
