More Harm than Good? Sorting Effects in a Compensatory Education Program

Abstract

We provide evidence that school-based compensatory education policies create sorting effects, by analyzing a French program, which targeted low-achieving and socially disadvantaged junior high schools. We use geocoded original data and a regression discontinuity framework to show that the program decreases the individual probability to attend a treated school and symmetrically increases the probability to attend a private school. The effects are driven by pupils from high socioeconomic backgrounds, resulting in an increase in social segregation across schools.