Unlike classical public policy analyses that emphasize the policymakers' role, this article argues that the choices by professionals that directly implement policies inside primary schools have a significant impact on their outcome. The analysis is based on a survey of 800 State and Municipal first-to-fourth-grade schoolteachers in São Paulo and was based on a typology of teachers using the "grade of membership" (GoM) technique. This analysis showed that the types of teachers are allocated differently according to the school system (State versus Municipal) and school locations (poor versus non-poor neighborhoods).
implementation; social policies; education; segmentation; São Paulo