Abstract

MURILLO, F. Javier  and  GRANA OLIVER, Raquel. An overview of school segregation by socioeconomic level in Uruguay. Cuad. Investig. Educ. [online]. 2020, vol.11, n.1, pp.15-35.  Epub June 01, 2020. ISSN 1510-2432.  https://doi.org/10.18861/cied.2020.11.1.2941.

This paper seeks to deepen the knowledge of school segregation by socioeconomic level in Uruguay, from two specific perspectives: one as regards Montevideo and the others relating to the contribution of public and private schools. For such purposes, a special exploitation of the National Assessment Program for Educational Achievements Aristas 2017 database developed by the National Institute of Educational Evaluation of Uruguay, has been carried out. The sample, therefore, consists of 15,356 students belonging to 247 schools. First, segregation is estimated through the 6 most common indices: Dissimilarity (ID), Gorard (IG), Square Root (IH), Isolation (A), Centile Gap (CGI), and Socioeconomic Inclusion Index (IIS). Segregation profiles are also evaluated and, finally, the decomposition of segregation in both state and private schools is analyzed. All this, both for Uruguay in general and for Montevideo in particular. The results indicate that Uruguay has an average school segregation by socioeconomic level of 0.56 (ID), 0.46 (IG), 0.31 (IA), 0.43 (IH), 0.42 (CGI) and 0.53 (IIS), which can be considered as high. In addition, it is found that segregation presents medium-low values for students from families with lower socioeconomic status and very high for those belonging to higher socioeconomic levels. The analysis of segregation both in state and private schools points at a very high concentration of students of higher socioeconomic levels in private schools. No relevant differences were detected in the Montevideo study. The main conclusion of this study is that Uruguay must take measures to limit the school segregation of students with greater resources, thus ensuring equity also in private schools.

Keywords : School segregation; Socioeconomic status; Uruguay; School; Basic Education.

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