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The aim of this paper is to test whether the distribution of students by social, cultural and racial characteristics is homogeneous between Spanish public schools (PS) and publicly subsidised private schools (PSPS) or whether segregation exists between the profile of pupils attending each type of school. The theoretical framework is based on the contributions of researchers into school choice policies, while the empirical application uses a 2005 questionnaire answered by the final year secondary school students of the Spanish region of Aragón. We quantify the degree of internal segregation within each sector (PS and PSPS) and estimate a probit model in order to discover which factors determine the choice of a PSPS. We conclude that the distribution of pupils between PS and PSPS follows a clear socioeconomic pattern which favours privately owned schools. Our study offers an additional result, namely, that cream-skimming processes are more recurrent within the publicly subsidised sector, which is shown to be far more selective than the public sector in its distribution of pupils. Finally, it is found that the higher the socioeconomic status, the higher the probability of choosing PSPS, suggesting that the segregation found in this paper may be caused partly by the choice patterns of Spanish families.

A growing literature has appeared in the last 2 decades with the aim to explore if the way in which publicly funded private schools are managed (a very autonomous mode) is more effective, than that applied in public schools (where decisions are highly centralized), concerning the promotion of student's educational skills. Our paper contributes to this literature providing new evidence from the Spanish experience. To this end, we use the Spanish Assessment named "Evaluación de Diagnóstico," a national yearly standardized test given to students in the fourth grade and administered by the Regional Educational Authorities. In particular, our data are those corresponding to the assessment conducted in the Spanish region of Aragón in 2010. Our methodological strategy is defined by the sequential application of two methods: propensity score matching and hierarchical linear models. Additionally, the sensitivity of our estimates is also tested with respect to unobserved heterogeneity. Our results underline the existence of a slight advantage of the private management model of schools in the promotion of scientific abilities of students and in the acquisition of foreign language (English) skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Add to the debate regarding private versus public schooling by examining the effect of school choice on student satisfaction. [•] Address endogeneity of school choice via IV based on geographic availability. [•] Naïve results suggest that private school students are more satisfied. [•] The positive sign disappears and reverses once school quality and non-random school choice are addressed. [•] Suggests that superior private school performance may be at the cost of student wellbeing in the short-term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]