Measuring the efficiency of public schools in Uruguay: main drivers and policy implications

The aim of this research is to explore the existence of inefficient behaviors in public high schools in Uruguay and identify its potential drivers. To do so, we perform a two-stage model using PISA 2009 and 2012 databases. In the first stage, we use Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to estimate efficiency scores, which are then regressed on school and student contextual variables. This second stage is carried out using four alternative models: a conventional censored regression and three different regression models based on the use of bootstrapping recently proposed in the literature. Our results show that educational efficiency in Uruguayan high schools significantly dropped in nine percentage points between 2009 and 2012. In terms of educational policy recommendations, in order to reduce the inefficiencies in the evaluated public schools in Uruguay, the focus should be put on reducing grade-retention levels and promoting teaching–learning techniques that enhance student’s mathematics study skills and assessing students continuously through test and homework throughout the academic year. In this vein, our findings also show positive effects on public schools’ efficiency of providing the responsibility in the distribution of the school budget to school principals

Ensayos sobre la estimación de la eficiencia técnica educativa bajo la presencia de endogeneidad

Tesis inédita de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales, leída el 25-03-2015La presente Tesis Doctoral contribuye, teórica y empíricamente, a entender hasta qué punto el problema de endogeneidad, uno de los principales problemas observado frecuentemente en los procesos de producción educativos, afecta a la estimación de la eficiencia técnica mediante el Análisis Envolvente de Datos (DEA). Asimismo, esta investigación combina ideas de la literatura de evaluación de impacto con las técnicas de medición de eficiencia no paramétricas con el fin de aportar potenciales soluciones para hacer frente a este problema en aplicaciones empíricas educativas y obtener así estimaciones de la eficiencia más precisas.El Capítulo 1 analiza teóricamente en qué medida la presencia de endogeneidad en el proceso de producción puede afectar a las estimaciones DEA en muestras finitas, de modo que los investigadores que aplican esta técnica conozcan la precisión de sus estimaciones. Para ello, en primer lugar se ilustra desde un punto de vista conceptual el problema de la endogeneidad y sus implicaciones en la estimación de la eficiencia. En segundo lugar, utilizando datos generados en un experimento de Monte Carlo evaluamos cómo diferentes niveles de endogeneidad positiva y negativa pueden afectar al desempeño de DEA. A pesar de que DEA es robusto a la presencia de endogeneidad negativa, la existencia de una endogeneidad positiva y significativa perjudica gravemente el desempeño de DEA. A partir de los resultados hallados previamente, la siguiente pregunta que surge es ¿Cómo podemos hacer frente a este problema en una aplicación empírica cuando sospechamos de la presencia de este tipo de endogeneidad? Esto implica responder dos cuestiones, cómo identificar el problema y cómo enfrentarlo. A partir de las simulaciones de Monte Carlo se propone un método heurístico sencillo que permite identificar correctamente la presencia de inputs endógenos en todos los escenarios simulados. Además, a partir de la técnica de Variables Instrumentales (VI) ampliamente utilizada en econometría, ofrecemos una nueva estrategia que permite abordar efectivamente el problema de endogeneidad en la estimación de la eficiencia técnica, el instrumental Input DEA Adicionalmente a este ejercicio teórico, los capítulos 2 y 3 proporcionan evidencia de dos aplicaciones empíricas en el que el problema de endogeneidad está presente.En el capítulo 2 se aplican las estrategias propuestas en el Capítulo 1 a datos de colegios públicos de educación secundaria en Uruguay. Utilizando el método heurístico detectamos que el nivel socio-económico medio de los colegios está alta y positivamente correlacionado con la eficiencia técnica de los mismos, y por lo tanto aplicamos la estrategia II-DEA para estimar la eficiencia técnica de los colegios controlando por endogeneidad. En el capítulo 3, tomando nuevamente ideas de la literatura de evaluación de impacto, se utilizan datos de un experimento natural en las escuelas de educación primaria en España para estimar la eficiencia de los maestros. En base a la asignación aleatoria de los estudiantes a las clases dentro de los colegios explotamos la variación exógena de la eficiencia técnica entre los maestros para evaluar su desempeño. Esta estrategia nos permite obtener una medida objetiva del verdadero efecto del maestro sobre los logros de los estudiantes y explorar los principales factores que explican la eficiencia de los docentes. Más allá de los resultados concretos de cada contexto educativo analizado (que se discuten en cada capítulo), ambos análisis proporcionan evidencia robusta de que el tomar o no en consideración el problema de endogeneidad conduce a resultados radicalmente diferentes en términos de las recomendaciones de política educativa pública para mejorar la calidad de la enseñanza.Fac. de Ciencias Económicas y EmpresarialesTRUEunpu

Factores explicativos de la eficiencia educativa en Uruguay: evidencia a partir de PISA 2012.

Abstract. The significant budgetary effort observed in Uruguay in the last decade has not been accompanied by better academic results, which evidences the possible presence of inefficiencies in the education system. In this sense, the aim of this paper is to identify the main potential sources of educational efficiency in secondary public schools. Based on information from PISA 2012, the analysis reveals that there is potential for these schools to improve their academic outcomes by on average 7.4% with the current resource allocation. To achieve this, educational policies should primarily focus on reviewing the existing repetition policies, teacher’s instructional practices and management of teachers in schools as well as working on reducing the students’ stress level associated with their work on maths.Resumen. El enorme esfuerzo presupuestario observado en Uruguay en la última década no ha sido acompañado de mejoras en los resultados académicos, lo cual evidencia la posible presencia de ineficiencias en el sistema educativo. En este sentido, el objetivo de este artículo es identificar los factores determinantes de la eficiencia educativa en los centros públicos de educación secundaria. En base a la información de PISA 2012, las estimaciones revelan que sería posible mejorar los resultados académicos en un 7,4% en promedio dado los recursos actuales. Para ello, las políticas educativas deberían focalizarse en revisar las políticas de repetición vigentes, las prácticas de instrucción docente y la gestión de los docentes en los centros, así como trabajar sobre el grado de estrés de los estudiantes asociado al trabajo con las matemáticas

Factores explicativos de la eficiencia educativa en Uruguay: evidencia a partir de PISA 2012.

The significant budgetary effort observed in Uruguay in the last decade has not been accompanied by better academic results, which evidences the possible presence of inefficiencies in the education system. In this sense, the aim of this paper is to identify the main potential sources of educational efficiency in secondary public schools. Based on information from PISA 2012, the analysis reveals that there is potential for these schools to improve their academic outcomes by on average 7.4% with the current resource allocation. To achieve this, educational policies should primarily focus on reviewing the existing repetition policies, teacher’s instructional practices and management of teachers in schools as well as working on reducing the students’ stress level associated with their work on maths.El enorme esfuerzo presupuestario observado en Uruguay en la última década no ha sido acompañado de mejoras en los resultados académicos, lo cual evidencia la posible presencia de ineficiencias en el sistema educativo. En este sentido, el objetivo de este artículo es identificar los factores determinantes de la eficiencia educativa en los centros públicos de educación secundaria. En base a la información de PISA 2012, las estimaciones revelan que sería posible mejorar los resultados académicos en un 7,4% en promedio dado los recursos actuales. Para ello, las políticas educativas deberían focalizarse en revisar las políticas de repetición vigentes, las prácticas de instrucción docente y la gestión de los docentes en los centros, así como trabajar sobre el grado de estrés de los estudiantes asociado al trabajo con las matemáticas

The educational efficiency drivers in Uruguay: Findings from PISA 2009.

The aim of this research is to identify the main drivers of secondary school efficiency in Uruguay. We are particularly interested in identifying which variables could be influenced by the design of public policies in order to improve academic outcomes with the current resource allocation. To do this, we build a two-stage semiparametric model using PISA 2009 database. In the first stage, we use data envelopment analysis (DEA) to estimate efficiency scores, which are then regressed on school and student contextual variables. This second stage is carried out using four alternative models: a conventional censured regression (Tobit) and three different regression models based on the use of bootstrapping recently proposed in the literature. The results show an average inefficiency of 7.5% for the evaluated Uruguayan schools, suggesting that there is room for improving academic outcomes by adopting appropriate educational policies. Following on from this, the findings of the second stage demonstrate that increasing educational resources, such as reducing class size, has no significant effects on efficiency. In contrast, educational policies should focus on reviewing grade-retention policies, teaching-learning techniques, assessment systems and, most importantly, encouraging students to spend more time reading after school in order to reduce inefficiencies

The educational efficiency drivers in Uruguay: Findings from PISA 2009.

The aim of this research is to identify the main drivers of secondary school efficiency in Uruguay. We are particularly interested in identifying which variables could be influenced by the design of public policies in order to improve academic outcomes with the current resource allocation. To do this, we build a two-stage semiparametric model using PISA 2009 database. In the first stage, we use data envelopment analysis (DEA) to estimate efficiency scores, which are then regressed on school and student contextual variables. This second stage is carried out using four alternative models: a conventional censured regression (Tobit) and three different regression models based on the use of bootstrapping recently proposed in the literature. The results show an average inefficiency of 7.5% for the evaluated Uruguayan schools, suggesting that there is room for improving academic outcomes by adopting appropriate educational policies. Following on from this, the findings of the second stage demonstrate that increasing educational resources, such as reducing class size, has no significant effects on efficiency. In contrast, educational policies should focus on reviewing grade-retention policies, teaching-learning techniques, assessment systems and, most importantly, encouraging students to spend more time reading after school in order to reduce inefficiencies

Dealing with endogeneity in data envelopment analysis applications

Although the presence of the endogeneity is frequently observed in economic production processes, it tends to be overlooked when practitioners apply data envelopment analysis (DEA). In this paper we deal with this issue in two ways. First, we provide a simple statistical heuristic procedure that enables practitioners to identify the presence of endogeneity in an empirical application. Second, we propose the use of an instrumental input DEA (II-DEA) as a potential tool to address this problem and thus improve DEA estimations. A Monte Carlo experiment confirms that the proposed II-DEA approach outperforms standard DEA in finite samples under the presence of high positive endogeneity. To illustrate our theoretical findings, we perform an empirical application on the education sector

El impacto del COVID-19 en el aprendizaje durante el confinamiento

COVID-19 pandemic led Spanish population to a mandatory lockdown between March and May 2020. This meant closing schools and moving the rest of the 2019-2020 academic year to an online format. This work analyzes how the educational process developed during lockdown and estimates the impact that the interaction between online education and parents’ teleworking situation had on students' critical thinking skills. To do this, we collected data at the beginning and at the end of the 2019-2020 academic year on critical thinking from students at the third year of secondary education from 15 educational institutions in the Region of Madrid. Firstly, we concluded that public schools faced more difficulties than private government-dependent schools for continuing with the teaching-learning process. In order to follow online classes, 70% of the students in private government-dependent schools had a desktop or laptop compared to 40% of the students in public schools. Moreover, meanwhile 73% of the students in private publicly funded schools devoted more than 4 hours to classes and online tasks, this figure slightly exceeded 50% for students in public schools. Secondly, in general, the different work situations of parents did not have significant effects on students' critical thinking. However, we did find that, for students with academic results below the average at the beginning of the school year, the fact that the mother teleworked during school closing had a positive and significant impact on their academic results. This suggests that teleworking allowed mothers to provide greater support and supervision to their children.La pandemia del COVID-19 llevó a la población española a un confinamiento obligatorio entre los meses de marzo y mayo de 2020. Ello supuso cerrar los centros educativos y continuar el resto del curso 2019-2020 sin presencialidad. Este trabajo analiza cómo se desarrolló el proceso educativo durante el confinamiento y estima el impacto que la interacción entre la educación telemática y la situación laboral de los progenitores tuvo sobre la competencia de pensamiento crítico del alumnado. Para ello, utilizamos datos recogidos al principio y al final del curso 2019-2020 sobre el pensamiento crítico del alumnado de 3º ESO de 15 centros educativos de la Comunidad de Madrid. En primer lugar, concluimos que los centros públicos tuvieron mayores dificultades que los centros concertados para continuar con el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje. Para seguir las clases telemáticas, el 70% del alumnado en centros concertados disponían de un ordenador de sobremesa o portátil, frente a solo un 40% del alumnado en centros públicos. Además, mientras que el 73% del alumnado de centros concertados destinaron más de 4 horas en total a clases y tareas online, esta cifra solo superó ligeramente el 50% en el alumnado de centros públicos. En segundo lugar, y con carácter general, las diferentes situaciones laborales de padres y madres no tuvieron efectos significativos sobre el pensamiento crítico del alumnado. Sin embargo, encontramos que, para el alumnado con resultados académicos por debajo de la media a principio de curso, el hecho de que la madre teletrabajara durante el cierre escolar tuvo un impacto positivo y significativo sobre sus resultados. Ello sugiere que el teletrabajo permitió a las madres brindar mayor apoyo y supervisión a sus hijos e hijas con bajo rendimiento previo

Dealing with the Endogeneity Problem in Data Envelopment Analysis

Endogeneity, and the distortions on the estimation of economic models that it causes, is a familiar problem in the econometrics literature. Although non-parametric methods like data envelopment analysis (DEA) are among the most used techniques for measuring technical efficiency, the effects of endogeneity on such efficiency estimates have received little attention. The aim of this paper is twofold. First, we further illustrate the endogeneity problem and its causes in production processes like the correlation between one input and the efficiency level. Second, we use synthetic data generated in a Monte Carlo experiment to analyze how different levels of positive and negative endogeneity can impair DEA estimations. We conclude that although DEA is robust to negative endogeneity, a high positive endogeneity level, i.e., a high positive correlation between one input and the true efficiency level, significantly and severely biases DEA performance

Dealing with the Endogeneity Problem in Data Envelopment Analysis

Endogeneity, and the distortions on the estimation of economic models that it causes, is a familiar problem in the econometrics literature. Although non-parametric methods like data envelopment analysis (DEA) are among the most used techniques for measuring technical efficiency, the effects of endogeneity on such efficiency estimates have received little attention. The aim of this paper is twofold. First, we further illustrate the endogeneity problem and its causes in production processes like the correlation between one input and the efficiency level. Second, we use synthetic data generated in a Monte Carlo experiment to analyze how different levels of positive and negative endogeneity can impair DEA estimations. We conclude that although DEA is robust to negative endogeneity, a high positive endogeneity level, i.e., a high positive correlation between one input and the true efficiency level, significantly and severely biases DEA performance