The effects of School Integration Programs : evidence from admission lotteries

Abstract

An increasing number of countries have decided to adopt more inclusive educational practices for students with special educational needs (SEN). One of them is that students with SEN share the classrooms with regular students. In this context, School Integration Programs (SIP) are in charge of supporting these children. I use student assignment lotteries to estimate the effect of SIP on pupils with Transitory SEN achievement. Specifically, I compare different outcomes of TSEN students with similar preferences admitted to SIP schools through the randomized admissions lotteries with outcomes of TSEN students who were not accepted in SIP schools. I find SIP schools have a non-significant effect on the probability of changing school during the year, participating in the following admission process, distance to school, and attendance. However, for pupils with priority preference for SIP, the School Integration Programs positively impact take-up, besides the negative impact on approval probability. In contrast, for those with a secondary preference for SIP, the impact on take-up is negative but increases the probability of approbation. I suggest that school quality differences drive the effect.