Table_1_“The kids get haggled over”: how institutional practices contribute to segregation in elementary schools.docx

School segregation is a key topic in urban, educational and inequality research. While previous studies have mainly focused on the effects of both parental school choice and residential segregation patterns on the composition of schools, we draw attention to institutional players steering access to elementary schools as one important dimension of institutional discrimination. Combining expert interviews with school principals and the local schools department with a quantitative survey among parents, we scrutinize the interplay between institutional structures and practices and parental school choice strategies. We identify three dimensions of institutional discrimination as being particularly relevant for school access, and thus for school segregation and inequality: a school’s guidelines and strategic objectives in dealing with segregation, the enrollment process, and a school’s profiling and information policies. These factors prove to be rather subtle, yet crucial facets of institutional discrimination, co-producing and perpetuating spatial inequalities.

城市、教育与不平等研究领域中，学校隔离问题占据核心地位。虽然以往研究主要关注家长学校选择与居住隔离模式对学校构成的影响，然而，本研究将视角转向机构因素对小学入学机会的引导作用，将其视为机构歧视的重要维度之一。通过结合对学校校长及当地教育部门专家的访谈，以及针对家长的定量调查，我们深入探讨了机构结构与实践活动与家长学校选择策略之间的相互作用。本研究识别出三个与学校入学机会、进而与学校隔离及不平等现象尤为相关的机构歧视维度：学校在处理隔离问题时的指导方针与战略目标、招生流程以及学校的画像和信息政策。这些因素虽显得微妙，却构成了机构歧视的关键要素，共同制造并延续空间不平等现象。