This study compares the effects of private versus public school administration on student performance in Portugal, which benefits from the existence of publicly funded private schools (CA schools). We have constructed two measures of students’ achievements in order to compare the effectiveness of each type of class. Firstly, a Logit is used to estimate the probability of completing Lower Secondary School (7th to 9th grade) in three years. Secondly, we employ a Value-Added approach by OLS, to compare national exam scores at 9th grade. Our findings suggest a positive, but modest, increase in the probability of completing Lower Secondary School with zero retentions, for those students attending a publicly funded private class from 7th grade to 9th grade, when compared to those attending a strictly public class. Additionally, the results suggest that attending a publicly funded private class also increases national exam scores by 1 point in Portuguese subject and 3 points in Mathematics, when compared to strictly public class (0-100 scale). With regard to private classes, in both models, the results move in the same direction as publicly funded private classes, although with higher magnitudes, when compared to public classes
