CONTRACTING OUT PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE: EVIDENCE FROM COLOMBIA

Contracting out public schools to private institutions is an instrument for reforming public education as it may facilitate academic innovation and improve student academic performance through higher school accountability and autonomy. The degree of autonomy that different providers have may vary substantially depending on the contractual and institutional arrangements they are subject to. In principle, contractual differences should generate different sets of incentives for providers that may ultimately affect student academic performance. One can expect, for example, that programs with limited achievement accountability rules might invest sub-optimally in resources aiming at improving the academic performance of their students. In this dissertation, I evaluate short- and longer-run achievement effects of the \emph{Colegios en Concesi\'on} (CEC) program, a large-scale initiative implemented in 2000 in Bogota, Colombia, which contracted out the administration of some traditional public schools (TPS) to reputed, not-for-profit private schools and universities. This program allows participating schools to operate outside public schools' collective bargaining provisions in return for being accountable, among other things, for the academic performance of their students in the ICFES test, a high-stakes college entry national standardized test. The major empirical challenge in studies of alternative school models is selection bias. Students who attend CEC schools may differ in a number of ways from public school students. To overcome potential selection bias of CEC attendance, I exploit variation in distance from a student's residence to the closest CEC institution as an instrument for CEC attendance. While distance may in theory be correlated with unobservable characteristics of students, I demonstrate using a variety of empirical strategies that this instrument is conditionally exogenous of unobserved determinants of academic achievement. I first evaluate the effects of attending a CEC school on ICFES test scores. Instrumental variables results indicate that CEC students exhibit important and significant gains in test scores on the ICFES test. That is, the two-stage least squares estimates obtained indicate that CEC students score 0.6 and 0.2 standard deviations higher in math and verbal tests, respectively, relative to TPS students. I provide evidence that the positive test score results of CEC attendance are not driven by unintended strategic responses by CEC schools such as excluding low-performing students from the pool of test-takers or via test specialization in the curriculum, or by significant differences in education inputs such as teachers' education, student-teacher ratios, or expenditures per student. I also provide suggestive auxiliary evidence that the estimated results are a consequence of an institutional arrangement that makes CEC schools accountable for the academic performance of their students. I also evaluate whether attending a CEC school translates into longer-run gains in potentially more meaningful outcomes such as increasing the probability of investing in post-secondary schooling, attending a more selective tertiary institution, or being admitted in high-return academic programs. The results on college attendance indicate that CEC students exhibit a significantly higher probability of attending a higher education institution and to attend a vocational program relative to TPS students. Moreover, CEC students have a slightly higher probability of attending a selective public institution and are not more likely to drop out from college relative to TPS students. The overall results provide compelling evidence that the contractual arrangement that defines the operation of CEC schools are successful at improving the academic performance of their students relative to TPS

The Importance of School Systems: Evidence from International Differences in Student Achievement

China: WinnowingColorVolume 64, Page

International collaborative follow - up investigation of graduating high school students’ understandings of the nature of scientific inquiry: is progress Being made?

Understandings of the nature of scientific inquiry (NOSI), as opposed to engaging students in inquiry learning experiences, are included in science education reform documents around the world. However, little is known about what students have learned about NOSI during their pre-college school years. The purpose of this large-scale follow-up international project (i.e. 32 countries and regions, spanning six continents and including 3917 students for the high school sample) was to collect data on what exiting high school students have learned about NOSI. Additionally, the study investigated changes in 12th grade students’ NOSI understandings compared to seventh grade (i.e. 20 countries and regions) students’ understandings from a prior investigation [Lederman et al. (2019). An international collaborative investigation of beginning seventh grade students’ understandings of scientific inquiry: Establishing a baseline. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 56(4), 486–515. https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.21512]. This study documents and discusses graduating high school students’ understandings and compares their understandings to seventh grade students’ understandings of the same aspects of scientific inquiry for each country. It is important to note that collecting data from each of the 130+ countries globally was not feasible. Similarly, it was not possible to collect data from every region of each country. A concerted effort was made, however, to provide a relatively representative picture of each country and the world

Adoption and Impact of OER in the Global South

Education in the Global South faces several key interrelated challenges, for which Open Educational Resources (OER) are seen to be part of the solution. These challenges include: unequal access to education; variable quality of educational resources, teaching, and student performance; and increasing cost and concern about the sustainability of education. The Research on Open Educational Resources for Development (ROER4D) project seeks to build on and contribute to the body of research on how OER can help to improve access, enhance quality and reduce the cost of education in the Global South. This volume examines aspects of educator and student adoption of OER and engagement in Open Educational Practices (OEP) in secondary and tertiary education as well as teacher professional development in 21 countries in South America, Sub-Saharan Africa and South and Southeast Asia. The ROER4D studies and syntheses presented here aim to help inform Open Education advocacy, policy, practice and research in developing countries

Educating Students to Improve the World

This open access book addresses how to help students find purpose in a rapidly changing world. In a probing and visionary analysis of the field of global education Fernando Reimers explains how to lead the transformation of schools and school systems in order to more effectively prepare students to address today’s’ most urgent challenges and to invent a better future. Offering a comprehensive and multidimensional framework for designing and implementing a global education program that combines cultural, psychological, professional, institutional and political perspectives the book integrates an extensive body of empirical literature on the practice of global education. It discusses several global citizenship curricula that have been adopted by schools and school networks, and ties them into an approach to lead school change into the uncharted territory of the future. Given its scope, the book will help teachers, school and district leaders tackle the change management needed in order to introduce global education, and more generally increase the relevancy of education. In addition, the book offers a “bridge” for more productive collaboration and communication between those who lead the process of educational change, and those who study and theorize this important work. At a time when the urgency of our shared global challenges calls for more understanding and collaboration and when the rapid transformation of societies requires that we help students develop a clear sense of relevancy and purpose, this book offers a way to pursue deep and sustainable change in instruction and school culture, so that students learn that nothing human is foreign and that they can find meaning in lives aligned with audacious purposes to make the world better

Learning About Teaching Science: Improving Teachers\u27 Practice Through Collaborative Professional Learning

This single, descriptive qualitative case study provides a snapshot of elementary teachers and their school principal’s multiple and competing views about personal and contextual factors affecting teacher engagement in collaborative professional learning (CPL) related to science education within the school environment. This study was viewed through the lens of Situated Learning Theory primarily by Lave and Wenger (1991) because viewing knowledge as situated has implications for understanding teacher learning and the design of instructional activities. Data were collected from three female elementary teachers and their school principal in Ontario for a period of six months. The data included: five principal interviews; two teacher focus groups; three surveys (Science Teaching Efficacy Beliefs Instrument, Science Teachers’ Pedagogical Discontentment scale, Beliefs about Reform Science Teaching and Learning); two questionnaires (demographics questionnaire, Professional Development Continuum Rubric) and; monthly professional development logs. The process of thematic coding was employed to analyze the data, and the findings were written with thick descriptions based on the narratives from the participants and descriptive data. Three interpretive insights and implications into the synthesis of the findings included: (a) the lack of emphasis on science in Ontario’s elementary education, (b) the limited time available for CPL about science, and (c) the limited number of teaching partners to collaborate about science. The interconnectedness of the three concepts highlights the multiple and complex domains that influence teacher engagement in collaborative professional learning related to elementary science education in Ontario, Canada. The overarching implication put forward in this research is the provision of ongoing professional learning with in-situ instructional science coaches working alongside the teachers to further develop their science teaching strategies related to inquiry-based approaches. To implement such concept, it is suggested that science is included in the School Effectiveness Framework so that when individual schools include science in their School Improvement Plan. Secondly, time for CPL needs to be included in teachers’ Collective Agreement. The benefits of these changes may include more teachers across the school engaging in CPL related to inquiry-based science, and expanding the network of teachers who collaborate with one another regarding science within the school setting

New Lessons: The Power of Educating Adolescent Girls

Offers data and analysis on the impact of education on adolescent girls' lives and highlights promising approaches. Calls for evaluating girl-friendly education programs, compiling data on non-formal schools, and improving curricula, access, and supports

Educating Students to Improve the World

This open access book addresses how to help students find purpose in a rapidly changing world. In a probing and visionary analysis of the field of global education Fernando Reimers explains how to lead the transformation of schools and school systems in order to more effectively prepare students to address today’s’ most urgent challenges and to invent a better future. Offering a comprehensive and multidimensional framework for designing and implementing a global education program that combines cultural, psychological, professional, institutional and political perspectives the book integrates an extensive body of empirical literature on the practice of global education. It discusses several global citizenship curricula that have been adopted by schools and school networks, and ties them into an approach to lead school change into the uncharted territory of the future. Given its scope, the book will help teachers, school and district leaders tackle the change management needed in order to introduce global education, and more generally increase the relevancy of education. In addition, the book offers a “bridge” for more productive collaboration and communication between those who lead the process of educational change, and those who study and theorize this important work. At a time when the urgency of our shared global challenges calls for more understanding and collaboration and when the rapid transformation of societies requires that we help students develop a clear sense of relevancy and purpose, this book offers a way to pursue deep and sustainable change in instruction and school culture, so that students learn that nothing human is foreign and that they can find meaning in lives aligned with audacious purposes to make the world better