Chile: academic performance and educational management under a rigid employment regime

Abstract

Working with census information on standardized academic performance tests and using different estimation techniques, this article analyses sociodemographic and management factors affecting the performance of Chile's municipal schools. The evidence suggests that the system's lack of flexibility, particularly where teacher dismissal is concerned, is an important factor but not the main cause of poor academic performance. Conversely, the differences in academic performance between municipal schools that can be attributed to management are almost twice the standard deviation of the System for Measuring the Quality of Education (SIMCE) performance test and 20 times the increment ascribed to the "complete school day" initiative, which costs the equivalent of half a point of gross domestic product (GDP).