ABSTRACT
From the 1960s on, educational sociologists have examined how schools contribute to the achievement of students and to stated inequalities between students. Many of these studies deal with the striving for effective and highquality schooling on the one hand and equal opportunities on the other hand, coinciding with the belief in a meritocratic society. The assumption is that true meritocracy depends upon equal access to educational and occupational mobility. Ascribed features such as socioeconomic status should not be of any importance, but reality shows that children of socially subordinated groups-the poor, the ethnic minorities-attain less in the educational domain and on the labor market. An important question, then, is whether schools really provide equal opportunities. Because research shows that children with different socioeconomic or ethnic backgrounds attend different schools, it is necessary to examine whether differential achievement may result from differential school features (Hallinan, 2002).
