Abstract In this paper, firstly, we offer a methodological framework to assess the between-school sorting of any target group of students (grouped by either family socioeconomic status, nativity, race, ethnicity, or any other characteristic) taking into account school resources adjusted for educational needs. We develop a family of indicators, which meet several basic criteria, with which we can analyse the consequences of school segregation in terms of opportunities to learn. Secondly, we show the usefulness of this approach with a comparative analysis in Europe of the between-school sorting of students by birthplace drawing on PISA 2022. Distinguishing among students from three family backgrounds (natives, first-generation immigrants, and second-generation immigrants), we document that, in many countries, segregation is accompanied by important differences about the human resources per pupil of schools, especially when school educational needs are taken into account, which accentuates the transmission of inequality. However, not all countries share this pattern or do not do it with the same intensity.
Alonso‐Villar et al. (2026) studied this question.