Are Socioeconomically Integrated Schools Equally Effective for Advantaged and Disadvantaged Students?

Abstract

Socioeconomic integration in schools has been shown to bring positive academic and nonacademic outcomes to disadvantaged students attending them. The academic benefits of integration on advantaged students are, by contrast, less evident. Effective integrated schools are those that promote disadvantaged students’ outcomes yet advantaged students do not experience a loss in their outcomes. This article draws on data from more than 70 countries to find organizational and national contexts where integrated schools promote the achievement of disadvantaged students while also promoting the achievement of advantaged students. Using propensity score matching techniques and PISA 2009 data, results show that effective integrated schools are elusive, although they can be found in the context of large schools, large class sizes, and some degree of within-school tracking. Effective integrated schools exist in a handful of countries.