Published on November 7, 2024 – Updated on November 14, 2024
Location
Pôle Tertiaire - Site La Rotonde - 26 avenue Léon Blum - 63000 Clermont-Ferrand
Room 212

Research seminar. Social Diversity at School, Academic Performance, and Socioemotional Skills: Evidence From a French Desegregation Experiment


Elise Huillery
Université Paris-Dauphine - PSL 

Abstract

This paper examines whether social desegregation at school may foster social cohesion and reduce social inequality in educational outcomes. We exploit an initiative launched by the French Ministry of Education to desegregate middle schools, and matched voluntary 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. We find that school desegregation did not affect academic performance of the low- and high-SES but brings social and psychological benefits for both groups of students.