The presentation will report selected findings from an ongoing research project on low-qualifying schools in segregated urban districts (Mustered/Ostendorf 2002; Friedrichs/Triemer 2009). Social segregation of urban environments is a global problem: the more stratified a society is, the more segregated its cities. Also most European cities contain districts, where ethnic and socio-economic deprivations cumulate. Furthermore, high fertility rates in these areas lead to a population with high proportions of children and young people, who grow up in a context of marginality and exclusion (see i.e. Crane 1991). Thus, the circle of the reproduction of inequality is going on. Andresen (2007) states urban segregation and the problem of the ghettoiation of   schooling as an important issue of current educational research.

Focusing on the conditions of success in relation to educational integration of students in deprived areas the study situates in the line of school efficiency research related to urban multi-risk surroundings. Even though research on ‘schools facing challenging circumstances’ (see i.e. Clarke et.al. 2005) enjoyed great popularity during the last decades, this line of research lacks substantial outcome on a general level (see Scheerens 2000) until today. Instead, most studies are placed in between fundamental research and action research (Creemers/Scheerens 2000). Most reports of findings on the first hand address the question of what to recommend to schools in difficulties – instead of a systematic description of their particular problems and strategies (see i.e. Edmonds 1979; Chapman/Russ 2005; von Ackeren 2008). Taking this into account, fundamental research is needed to give an insight in the particular situations and difficulties of schools in urban districts characterized by high social-economic and/or ethnic segregation.

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