This paper intends to present partial results of a research project in which the main aims are i) to analyze the relationship between school results in national exams and the social origins of pupils and the School Effect on the pupils’ achievement and ii)to obtain a deeper knowledge of schools so as to understand the specificities that contribute to different results, especially when pupils have a similar social profile.

The study articulates extensive-quantitative and intensive-qualitative components, but this paper will focus only on the first one. This involves the analysis of the results obtained in the national examinations by pupils in basic schooling, which on one hand considers the pupils’ social conditions (parents’ level of schooling, social class and national origins) and, on the other, the results obtained by each school. The data refer to fourth and sixth grade students that have done Portuguese and Mathematics national exams in Lisbon Metropolitan Area (LMA) in 2009/10.

As Demack, Drew and Grimsley (2000) remind us, the study of Jencks et al (1972) show that the relative effect of the school onpupils’ achievements is smallin comparison with the effect of the social and ethno-racial condition, but this does not mean that there is no effect. While studies on the “school effect” have had some tradition in Anglo Saxon countries (ie Rutter, 1979), they are only few studies in other countries. The work of Smith and Tomlinson (1989), Entwistle et al. (1997), and Oakes (2005) stand out in this field and that of Cousin (1998) in the French production. More recently, we can find important research in this domain that explore the shools effets considering both social background and ethnic variables (Van Houtte, 2011; Agirdag, O., Van Houtte & Van Avermaet, 2012).

In Portugal, the knowledge about school-effect is very limited. There are evidences that some school variables/policies have a significant effect on pupils’ school results (Pereira, 2010; Portela et al, 2007; Seabra, 2010; Seabra, 2012) but we do not know precisely the extent of this influence.

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