Segregation and Educational Inequalities

Abstract

This article is intended to contribute to the understanding of the socio-territorial processes in school results, based on the following questions: (a) Is the center-periphery model sufficient for understanding of more complex processes, such as the Rio (Carioca) model of residential segregation?; (b) Is the school performance of the 4th and 8th grades (respectively 10 and 14 year old) students in the public education system associated with the socio-spatial organization of the city of Rio de Janeiro?; (c) Which mechanisms can be proposed as hypotheses or seem more plausible in explaining the relation between territory and school results in this urban context? In order to handle these questions, this chapter points out the importance of taking the social organization of the territory into consideration as a sphere that is also capable of limiting the overall increase in school effectiveness and of its role in the democratization of access to educational opportunities.