A city’s primary school segregation is closely related to its residential segregation. However, in education systems that allow primary school choice, parental behaviour often boosts school segregation beyond the segregation determined by the families’ place of residence. Taking up previous research, the paper starts by addressing the extent to which parental choice impacts school segregation in a large German city in North Rhine-Westphalia, a German federal state where primary school choice was introduced several years ago. It goes on to analyse which school characteristics are of importance for parents not wishing their children to attend the nearest school, thus boosting school segregation. In doing so, data is used that allows the precise determination of the extent to which children do not attend their nearest school and under which conditions. It becomes clear that, in addition to residential patterns, parental school choice is a significant driver of the uneven distribution of pupils, with the decisions of middle- and upper-middle-class parents particularly contributing to the socio-economic segregation of schoolchildren. A look at various forms of ethnic and religious segregation reveals ambivalent results, inter alia a high level of segregation of Muslim children.
AbdulkadirogluAPathakPSchellenbergJ, et al. (2017) Do parents value school effectiveness? NBER Working Paper Series w23912. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research.
2.
BensonMBridgeGWilsonD (2015) School choice in London and Paris – A comparison of middle-class strategies. Social Policy & Administration49(1): 24–43.
3.
BerneliusVHuillaHRamos LobatoI (2021) ‘Notorious schools’ in ‘notorious places’? Exploring the connectedness of urban and educational segregation. Social Inclusion9(2): 154–165.
4.
BerneliusVVaattovaaraM (2016) Choice and segregation in the ‘most egalitarian’ schools: Cumulative decline in urban schools and neighbourhoods of Helsinki, Finland. Urban Studies53(15): 3155–3171.
5.
BerneliusVVilkamaK (2019) Pupils on the move: School catchment area segregation and residential mobility of urban families. Urban Studies56(15): 3095–3116.
6.
BettingerEP (2005) The effect of charter schools on charter students and public schools. Economics of Education Review24(2): 133–147.
7.
BonalXZancajoAScandurraR (2021) Student mobility and school segregation in an (un)controlled choice system: A counterfactual approach. British Educational Research Journal47(1): 42–64.
8.
BotermanWR (2013) Dealing with diversity: Middle-class family households and the issue of ‘Black’ and ‘White’ schools in Amsterdam. Urban Studies50(6): 1130–1147.
9.
BotermanWR (2019) The role of geography in school segregation in the free parental choice context of Dutch cities. Urban Studies56(15): 3074–3094.
10.
BotermanWRMusterdSPacchiC, et al. (2019) School segregation in contemporary cities: Socio-spatial dynamics, institutional context and urban outcomes. Urban Studies56(15): 3055–3073.
11.
BotermanWRRamos LobatoI (2022) Meddling with school choice: Comparing education policy interventions and their impact on school segregation. Comparative Education58(4): 470–488.
12.
BurgessSGreavesEVignolesA, et al. (2015) What parents want: School preferences and school choice. The Economic Journal125(587): 1262–1289.
13.
BurgessSWilsonDLuptonR (2005) Parallel lives? Ethnic segregation in schools and neighbourhoods. Urban Studies42(7): 1027–1056.
14.
ButlerTHamnettC (2007) The geography of education: Introduction. Urban Studies44(7): 1161–1174.
15.
ByrneB (2006) In search of a ‘good mix’: ‘Race’, class, gender and practices of mothering. Sociology40(6): 1001–1017.
16.
ByrneB (2009) Not just class: Towards an understanding of the whiteness of middle-class schooling choice. Ethnic and Racial Studies32(3): 424–441.
17.
CandipanJ (2019) Neighbourhood change and the neighbourhood-school gap. Urban Studies56(15): 3308–3333.
18.
CandipanJ (2020) Choosing schools in changing places: Examining school enrollment in gentrifying neighborhoods. Sociology of Education93(3): 215–237.
19.
ChenFHarrisDN (2023) The market-level effects of charter schools on student outcomes: A national analysis of school districts. Journal of Public Economics228: 105015.
20.
CordesSA (2018) In pursuit of the common good: The spillover effects of Charter Schools on Public School Students in New York City. Education Finance and Policy13(4): 484–512.
21.
CordiniMParmaARanciC (2019) ‘White flight’ in Milan: School segregation as a result of home-to-school mobility. Urban Studies56(15): 3216–3233.
22.
DenessenEDriessenaGSleegersP (2005) Segregation by choice? A study of group-specific reasons for school choice. Journal of Education Policy20(3): 347–368.
23.
DenicePGrossB (2016) Choice, preferences, and constraints: Evidence from Public School Applications in Denver. Sociology of Education89(4): 300–320.
24.
DiehlCFickPKoenigM (2017) Religiosität und Bildungserfolg. Essen: Stiftung Mercator.
25.
DraytonEGreavesERossiG, et al. (2023) School and neighbourhood segregation in Scotland and England. IFS Report R276. London: Institute for Fiscal Studies.
26.
DuncanODDuncanB (1955) A methodological analysis of segregation indexes. American Sociological Review20(2): 210.
27.
FlintJ (2007) Faith schools, multiculturalism and community cohesion: Muslim and Roman Catholic state schools in England and Scotland. Policy & Politics35(2): 251–268.
28.
FrankenbergE (2013) The role of residential segregation in contemporary school segregation. Education and Urban Society45(5): 548–570.
29.
GibbonsSMachinSSilvaO (2013) Valuing school quality using boundary discontinuities. Journal of Urban Economics75: 15–28.
30.
HaileyCA (2022) Racial preferences for schools: Evidence from an experiment with White, Black, Latinx, and Asian parents and students. Sociology of Education95(2): 110–132.
31.
HansenKRadišićJDingY, et al. (2022) Contextual effects on students’ achievement and academic self-concept in the Nordic and Chinese educational systems. Large-Scale Assessments in Education10: 16.
32.
HarrisDNLarsenMF (2023) What schools do families want (and why)? Evidence on revealed preferences from New Orleans. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis45(3): 496–519.
33.
HastingsJSKaneTJStaigerDO (2008) Heterogeneous Preferences and the Efficacy of Public School Choice. New Haven, CT: Yale University.
34.
HastingsJSWeinsteinJM (2008) Information, school choice, and academic achievement: Evidence from two experiments. Quarterly Journal of Economics123(4): 1373–1414.
35.
ImbermanSA (2011) The effect of charter schools on achievement and behavior of public school students. Journal of Public Economics95(7–8): 850–863.
36.
JenningsJL (2010) School choice or schools’ choice?: Managing in an era of accountability. Sociology of Education83(3): 227–247.
37.
JohnstonWR (2015) The Roots of Opting Out: Family, School, and Neighborhood Characteristics Associated with Non-Local School Choices. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University.
38.
KarstenSFelixCLedouxG, et al. (2006) Choosing segregation or integration?: The extent and effects of ethnic segregation in Dutch cities. Education and Urban Society38(2): 228–247.
39.
KauppinenTMvan HamMBerneliusV (2021) Understanding the effects of school catchment areas and households with children in ethnic residential segregation. Housing Studies37(9): 1625–1649.
40.
KimelbergSMBillinghamCM (2013) Attitudes toward diversity and the school choice process: Middle-class parents in a segregated urban public school district. Urban Education48(2): 198–231.
41.
KristenC (2008) Primary school choice and ethnic school segregation in German elementary schools. European Sociological Review24(4): 495–510.
42.
MachinS (2011) Houses and schools: Valuation of school quality through the housing market. Labour Economics18(6): 723–729.
43.
MachinSMcNallySMeghirC (2004) Improving pupil performance in English secondary schools: Excellence in cities. Journal of the European Economic Association2(2): 396–405.
44.
MacLeodBWUrquiolaM (2019) Is education consumption or investment? Implications for school competition. Annual Review of Economics11(1): 563–589.
45.
MaloutasTSpyrellisSNCapellaA (2019) Residential segregation and educational performance. The case of Athens. Urban Studies56(15): 3143–3161.
46.
MayerTKoinzerT (2019) Schulwahl und Bildungsungleichheit – Ein holistisches Modell zur Erklärung von Segregation und Bildungsdisparitäten bei der Einzelschulwahl. Pädagogische Rundschau73(3): 265–279.
47.
MurilloFJBelaviG (2021) Differential impact of school segregation in the performance of native and non-native students in Spain. Journal of New Approaches in Educational Research10(1): 85–100.
48.
MusterdSMarcińczakSvan HamM, et al. (2017) Socioeconomic segregation in European capital cities. Increasing separation between poor and rich. Urban Geography38(7): 1062–1083.
49.
NdimandeB (2016) School choice and inequalities in post-apartheid South Africa. Global Education Review3(2): 33–49.
50.
NielsenRSAndersenHT (2019) Ethnic school segregation in Copenhagen: A step in the right direction?Urban Studies56(15): 3234–3250.
51.
NieuwenhuisJKleinepierTvan HamM (2021) The role of exposure to neighborhood and school poverty in understanding educational attainment. Journal of Youth and Adolescence50(5): 872–892.
52.
NoreischK (2007) Choice as rule, exception and coincidence: Parents’ understandings of catchment areas in Berlin. Urban Studies44(7): 1307–1328.
53.
OwensAReardonSFJencksC (2016) Income segregation between schools and school districts. American Educational Research Journal53(4): 1159–1197.
54.
PapkeLE (2005) The effects of spending on test pass rates: Evidence from Michigan. Journal of Public Economics89(5–6): 821–839.
55.
PfirschTSemiG (2016) Segregation in the cities of the European Mediterranean. Méditerranée127: 15–23.
56.
RamondQObertiM (2020) Housing tenure and educational opportunity in the Paris metropolitan area. Housing Studies37(7): 1079–1099.
57.
Ramos LobatoI (2019) Free Primary School Choice, Parental Networks, and Their Impact on Educational Strategies and Segregation. Bochum: Ruhr-Universität.
58.
Ramos LobatoIGoldbachAHanhörsterH (2023) “The kids get haggled over”: How institutional practices contribute to segregation in elementary schools. Frontiers in Sociology8: 1250158.
59.
Ramos LobatoIGroosT (2019) Choice as a duty? The abolition of primary school catchment areas in North Rhine-Westphalia/Germany and its impact on parent choice strategies. Urban Studies56(15): 3274–3291.
60.
RangvidBS (2007) Living and learning separately? Ethnic segregation of school children in Copenhagen. Urban Studies44(7): 1329–1354.
61.
RangvidBS (2010) School choice, universal vouchers and native flight from local schools. European Sociological Review26(3): 319–335.
62.
RaveaudMvan ZantenA (2007) Choosing the local school: Middle class parents’ values and social and ethnic mix in London and Paris. Journal of Education Policy22(1): 107–124.
63.
RhodesADeLucaS (2014) Residential mobility and school choice among poor families. In: LareauAGoyetteK (eds) Choosing Homes, Choosing Schools. New York, NY: Russel Sage Foundation, pp.137–166.
64.
RiedelASchneiderKSchuchartC, et al. (2010) School choice in German primary schools. How binding are school districts?Journal for Educational Research Online2(1): 94–120.
65.
RothsteinJ (2007) Does competition among public schools benefit students and taxpayers? Comment. American Economic Review97(5): 2026–2037.
66.
SantosHElacquaG (2016) Socioeconomic school segregation in Chile: Parental choice and a theoretical counterfactual analysis. CEPAL Reviews119: 123–137.
67.
SchäferABörsch-SupanJGallanderS, et al. (2018) Erfolgsfaktor Resilienz. Düsseldorf: Vodafone Stiftung Deutschland GmbH.
68.
SchneeweisN (2015) Immigrant concentration in schools: Consequences for native and migrant students. Labour Economics35: 63–76.
69.
SchneiderKSchuchartCWeishauptH, et al. (2011) The effect of free primary school choice on ethnic groups – Evidence from a policy reform. Schumpeter Discussion Papers 7. Wuppertal: Bergische Universität Wuppertal.
70.
SchräplerJPJeworutzkiS (2021) Konstruktion des Sozialindex für Schulen in Nordrhein-Westfalen. ZEFIR-Materialien 14. Bochum: Zentrum für interdisziplinäre Regionalforschung.
71.
SchwarzJHabeckCGruehnS, et al. (2018) Welche Schule passt zu meinem Kind?Zeitschrift für Pädagogik64(5): 612–634.
72.
TammaruTKnappDSilmS, et al. (2021) Spatial underpinnings of social inequalities: A vicious circles of segregation approach. Social Inclusion9(2): 65–76.
73.
TanCYYHongXGaoL, et al. (2023) Meta-analytical insights on school SES effects. Educational Review. Epub ahead of print 17 March 2023. DOI: 10.1080/00131911.2023.2184329.
74.
van ZantenA (2013) A good match: Appraising worth and estimating quality in school choice. In: BeckertJMusselinC (eds) Constructing Quality: The Classification of Goods in Markets. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp.77–100.
75.
VincentCRollockNBallS, et al. (2012) The educational strategies of the Black middle classes. In: RichterMAndresenS (eds) The Politicization of Parenthood. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands, pp.139–152.
76.
WilsonDBridgeG (2019) School choice and the city: Geographies of allocation and segregation. Urban Studies56(15): 3198–3215.
