Preferencias reveladas de los proveedores de educación privada en Chile. El caso de la Ley de Subvención Escolar Preferencial

En el año 2008, el Congreso Chileno promulgó la Ley de Subvención Escolar Preferencial (sep). La Ley sep reconoce que es más costoso educar a los estudiantes más vulnerables, e introduce un sistema de financiamiento en el que el subsidio por estudiante varía según sus necesidades educativas. Este subsidio adicional está condicionado a un incremento en el papel del Ministerio de Educación, que debe monitorear y clasificar a las escuelas de acuerdo con el desempeño académico de sus estudiantes y hacerlas responsables por sus resultados. La Ley sep también prohíbe a las escuelas participantes el uso de entrevistas con los padres y las pruebas de admisión para seleccionar y expulsar a los alumnos. Aquí se analizan los costos y beneficios de participar en el programa sep y se encuentra que, mientras la mayoría de las escuelas públicas participa, casi 40 por ciento de las escuelas privadas subvencionadas deciden no recibir el financiamiento adicional de la sep. Además, se encuentra que, mientras los establecimientos privados subvencionados más aventajados deciden no participar porque los beneficios de recibir los fondos adicionales no compensan los costos de tener que cumplir con los requisitos de no selección que introduce la sep, otros establecimientos no cuentan con la capacidad o el apoyo técnico para cumplir con las metas académicas que exige el programa. Nuestros resultados dan luces acerca de algunos de los desafíos pendientes de la Ley sep y del sistema educativo chileno en general

Socioeconomic school segregation in Chile: parental choice and a theoretical counterfactual analysis

In this article, we examine the hypothesis that the policy of parental school choice in Chile has increased socioeconomic school segregation. We use a georeferenced database of students and schools in the Greater Metropolitan Area of Santiago to compare actual segregation with the segregation that would occur in the hypothetical case that students attended the school nearest to their place of residence. The results indicate that school segregation is higher in the actual scenario than in the counterfactual scenario, which suggests that the interaction between family preferences and school entry barriers (tuition and selective admission process) tend to increase school segregation beyond the city’s underlying residential segregation

Teacher transfers and the disruption of teacher staffing in the city of Sao Paulo

This paper analyzes preferences for certain school attributes among in-service teachers. We explore a centralized matching process in the city of Sao Paulo that teachers must use when transferring schools. Because teachers have to list and rank their preferences for schools, we can estimate the desirability of school attributes using a rank-ordered logit model. We show that the school's distance from the teacher's home, its average test scores, and teacher composition play a central role in teacher preferences. Furthermore, we document that preferences vary according to teacher characteristics such as gender, race, age, and academic subject

Segregación socioeconómica escolar en Chile: elección de la escuela por los padres y un análisis contrafactual teórico

En este artículo se examina la hipótesis de que la política de elección escolar ha incrementado la segregación socioeconómica en Chile. Se utiliza una base de datos georreferenciada de estudiantes y escuelas del Gran Santiago, para comparar la segregación real con la que se produciría en un escenario hipotético en que los estudiantes asisten a la escuela más cercana a su lugar de residencia. Los resultados indican que la segregación escolar es mayor en el escenario real que en el contrafactual, lo que sugiere que la interacción entre las preferencias de las familias y las barreras de entrada establecidas por las escuelas (cobros obligatorios y procesos de admisión selectivos) tienden a incrementar la segregación escolar más allá del efecto de la segregación residencial subyacente en la ciudad

Navigating centralized admissions: The role of parental preferences in school segregation in Chile

In this paper, we aim to understand some of the mechanisms behind the low impact of a Chilean educational reform on socioeconomic integration within the school system. We focus on pre-kindergarden (pre-K) admissions, which account for the highest volume of applications since all students (except those applying to private schools) must seek admission through the centralized system. We employ a discrete choice model to analyze parents school preferences. Our analysis reveals that the school choices of low-SES families are more strongly influenced by a schools non-academic attributes which are often omitted from analyses of parental preferences due to data availability constraints rather than academic quality. For instance, low-SES parents tend to prefer schools with fewer reported violent incidents, schools where students report facing less discrimination and exclusion, and schools where students demonstrate higher levels of self-efficacy. Disadvantaged families also tend to favor schools that have a religious affiliation, offer more 'classical' sports (e.g. soccer), or have a foreign name. These results have significant implications for understanding the preferences of disadvantaged families and the impact of centralized admission systems on reducing segregation. By recognizing the non-academic factors driving school choices, policymakers can better design admission systems that truly foster school diversity and equality

El desafío de la calidad y equidad en la educación chilena

El bajo nivel de calidad de la educación chilena es, sin duda, el problema más importante que enfrenta nuestro país a mediano y largo plazo. Cambios significativos en el área requieren de nuevos objetivos, prioridades y políticas orientadas a una educación más equitativa y de mejor calidad. Para desarrollar nuevas propuestas y políticas educacionales, es necesario tener en cuenta tres aspectos. En primer lugar, se debe respetar la estructura vigente. Las propuestas no deben cambiar el sistema en su diseño fundamental, sino que orientarse a obtener el mejor rendimiento de los recursos invertidos. Segundo, se requieren cambios de gestión que permitan Para desarrollar nuevas propuestas y políticas educacionales, es necesario tener en cuenta tres aspectos. En primer lugar, se debe respetar la estructura vigente. Las propuestas no deben cambiar el sistema en su diseño fundamental, sino que orientarse a obtener el mejor rendimiento de los recursos invertidos. Segundo, se requieren cambios de gestión que permitan acelerar la obtención de logros de calidad y equidad. Por último, se necesitan recursos adicionales para impulsar el conjunto de iniciativas que a continuación se discuten. acelerar la obtención de logros de calidad y equidad. Por último, se necesitan recursos adicionales para impulsar el conjunto de iniciativas que a continuación se discuten. Estas políticas públicas deben posicionar a Chile en una ruta de desarrollo sostenido. Un sistema educacional que garantice el acceso a una educación de calidad a toda la población no solo afecta la productividad futura, sino que también tiene efectos sobre la equidad, la estabilidad sociopolítica del país y el crecimiento económico

The effects of accountability on the allocation of school resources: Regression discontinuity evidence from Chile

This research examines the effect of accountability threats for low performing schools on resource allocation decisions and provides evidence that schools act with strategic behavior only when the accountability pressure is high. We used a generalization of a traditional regression discontinuity design, taking advantage of the sharp discontinuity in the Chilean accountability system's ranking of schools based on performance measures, and of a unique school level expenditure data set, to make causal estimates of the effect of being ranked as "low-performing" on school spending decisions. The results indicate that, while first time low-performing schools do not change their resource allocation strategy, chronically underperforming schools are more likely to hire external technical pedagogical support and invest in teacher training that may help them boost achievement in the short and medium-term and avoid sanctions

Cierre de escuelas en Chile: acceso a alternativas de calidad en un sistema de elección escolar

In this paper, we analyze the schooling alternatives of families that could face school closure. This article identifies, characterizes, and georeferences the institutions classified as low-performing by the SEP Law along with their closest alternatives. The findings indicate that a significant number of families do not have any quality alternatives nearby, particularly families in rural areas and/or in schools with a high percentage of low SES students. Additionally, when admissions barriers and family preferences are incorporated in the analysis, school alternatives are considerably reduced. Alternatives are further reduced when using a more stringent definition of school quality.Para analizar las opciones que tendrían las familias frente al cierre de su escuela este artículo identifica, caracteriza y georreferencia a los establecimientos clasificados como de bajo desempeño por la Ley SEP y a sus alternativas cercanas. Los resultados indican que un porcentaje importante de las familias no tiene alternativas de calidad, principalmente aquellas que viven en sectores rurales y/o que pertenecen a escuelas vulnerables. Adicionalmente, al incorporar las barreras de entrada de las escuelas y las preferencias de las familias, dichas opciones se reducen considerablemente, al igual que al utilizar una definición más exigente de calidad

The effects of the Chilean school accountability system on teacher turnover

This paper estimates the effects of school accountability on year-to-year teacher mobility in Chile. An accountability program was introduced between 2012 and 2015, which established sanctions for persistently low-performing schools, including the threat of closure if they failed to improve their academic outcomes after four years. Since the low-performance ranking was based on the school's relative position on a set of variables and their corresponding thresholds, we use a Multivariate Regression Discontinuity Design to evaluate the impact of the policy on teacher mobility. Our results indicate that teachers are more likely to leave schools that are labeled as low performing. This effect appears to be relevant only when teachers can move to other schools, as we did not find any effect on the likelihood of teachers leaving the school system. The evidence suggests that the effect on mobility is more pronounced for teachers with less working experience, who teach in two or more schools, were hired with temporary contracts, and achieved lower scores on their college admission tests. Even though mobility appears to have increased among less effective teachers, schools are not hiring new teachers to replace them

School reorganization reforms: The case of school networks in Colombia

To contribute to the debate about the reorganization of the public-school supply, in this paper we analyze a reform introduced in Colombia in 2001 that merged several independent small schools into a single educational institution, with the same name, administration, educational project and school principal. Specifically, we estimate the differences in student achievement and measures of teacher characteristics and technological infrastructure between school sites belonging to a multi-site institution with single-site schools. Our results suggest that there are no differences in standardized test scores, but at the same time, we found that school sites belonging to multi-site schools, especially those in larger networks (more than 6 sites) and located far away from the main site of the school, tend to have younger teachers that earn lower salaries and are more likely to have a temporary contract. We also find evidence that more isolated sites from large-sized schools have less of a probability to have access to the Internet and a computer room than single-site schools. From the point of view of public policy, these results provide suggestions of potential reforms that should be implemented to increase cooperation between sites within the same school