SPACE DISTRIBUTION OF SCHOOLS AND DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE OF STUDENTS OF BASIC EDUCATION OF NATAL / RIO GRANDE DO NORTE / BRAZIL

The distribution of municipal public schools in the municipality of Natal underwent a transformation process in recent years with the reform and construction of new schools as well as the installation of equipment and classroom enlargements, libraries and sports courts to meet the population in the age group from 6 to 14 years. In this context, the objective of this work is to analyze the spatial distribution of schools and the demographic profile of the school population of the 9th grade students in the municipal education network of Natal, State of Rio Grande do Norte – BRAZIL.

The database in this research was composed:
i) of the school population of 8 elementary schools, distributed in the 4 administrative regions of the Natal, Brazil (North, West, East and South),
ii) School Census of 2011/2013/2015 and
iii) The student's individual record and academic record. Google Maps and Google Earth softwares were used for the processing of spatialization and the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences served for the data statistical treatment.

The results indicated that a significant portion of the researched population resides in other municipalities bordering of the Natal/RN/BRAZIL. The schools located in the center region have the largest population and population dispersion, receives students from almost all neighborhoods and from some municipalities of the metropolitan region of Natal (Extremoz, Macaíba, São Gonçalo do Amarante and Parnamirim). Another important result that this research presents refers to the Index of Basic Education Development (our IDEB). In the schools located on the Southern and Eastern zones of Natal this index is higher than that of the schools located in the Northern and Western regions. These results suggest greater attention to the schools that did not reach satisfactory school indexes, especially in order to improve the school performance of the students and provide conditions that are more appropriate for quality teaching. Respecting the heterogeneity and the individuality of the school community. However, these results have important implications for the educational management of the municipality.