The World Bank works on research and analysis on education in developing countries. Here are the reports of those works. Economic and Sector Work (ESW) Mexico's Challenge of Knowledge-based Competitiveness Vol. I Mexico's Challenge of Knowledge-based Competitiveness Vol. II Policy Notes Bolivia Basic Education in Bolivia: Challenges for 2006-2010 Chile Towards Equality of Opportunity 2006-2010 Mexico Making Educationi More Effective by Compensating for Disadvantages Introducing School-based Management and Enhancing Accountability Training Argentina Building a Skilled Labor Force for Sustained and Equitable Economic Growth Working Papers Argentina Ciencia, technología e innovación en Argentina: Un perfil sobre temas y prácticas s
This paper examines the strengths and weaknesses of Argentina’s national innovation system with the aim of identifying effective policies. Argentina has created strong institutions at the national level to support science and technology. However, the data reveals that Argentina under-invests in research and development (R&D), and private sector participation in R&D is very low compared to international standards. The study concludes that strengthening education for university graduates, reinforcing private participation in R&D and fostering links are key steps to building a globally competitive innovation system in Argentina. Estimating the returns to education in Argentina : 1992-2002
The authors of this paper estimate returns to schooling in urban Argentina for a 10-year period. In addition to comparable earnings functions, they also estimate the returns using quantile regression analysis to detect differences in the returns across the distribution. The study finds that over time, men in higher quantiles have higher returns to schooling compared with those in the lower quantiles. For women, returns are highest in the lowest quantile. The returns to education have increased during the past decade. The authors do not rule out that increased demand for skills is driving the increasing returns over the decade. Rising returns to schooling in Argentina, 1992-2002 : productivity or credentialism?
This paper finds that there is little evidence of screening or credentialism driving the returns to schooling, which increased significantly in Argentina from 1992 to 2002. There has not been much change in the premium to primary education, while the returns to secondary education increased, but by less than the premium to university. The returns to incomplete university also increased significantly. There is a signal that there might be credentialism at the tertiary level, but 15 years of schooling also represents a significant threshold. The returns to schooling are higher in the private sector. Colombia The Impact of Private Provision of Public Education: Empirical Evidence from Bogota's Concession Schools
In 1999 the city of Bogota, Colombia launched the concession school program designed to broaden the coverage and quality of basic education. It consists of a contract between a group of private schools and the public educational system such that private agents provide education for low-income
students. This paper tests three main hypotheses concerning the impact of concessions on the quality of education: first, dropout rates are lower in concession schools than in similar public schools; second, other public schools nearby the concession schools have lower dropout rates in comparison with other public schools outside the area of influence; and third, test scores from concession schools are higher than scores in similar public schools. The paper presents evidence in favor of the three hypotheses using propensity score and matching estimators. Contracting education services
One of the top priorities articulated in Colombia's National Development Plan i s more rapid progress in basic education coverage and quality. In fact, despite the significant progress made throughout the last decades, the average schooling level of the adult population in Colombia continues to lag behind several countries in the region. Moreover, despite increases in educational spending and the decentralization of the 1990s, enrollments at the primary and secondary school levels are not yet universal. The Government of Colombia is strengthening the legal framework for contracting with private providers for the delivery of education services. In this context, the Colombian Ministry of National Education requested the World Bank to provide technical assistance on the practice of contracting education services. This report presents: (a) a summary of international experience in education contracting; (b) a description of some of the relevant experiences of education contracting in Colombia; and (c) a review of policy options. Is formal lifelong learning a profitable investment for all of life ? How age, education level, and flexibility of provision affect rates of return to adult education in Colombia
This paper investigates one aspect of lifelong learning: returns to formal education across ages. The estimates are based on observed education-age-earnings profiles from the Colombian national household survey. The study finds that rates of return to all levels of education are only slightly smaller for 35 year olds than for young people, thus confirming the profitability of investment in adult education. Tertiary education continues to attract a positive return until late in life, 45-50 years, whereas the economic value of re-entering primary and secondary education is positive up till the age of 40-45. The findings suggest that adult formal education initiatives should focus on 20- to 40-year-olds and be designed flexibly to allow learners to work part-time. Mexico Empowering parents to improve education: evidence from rural Mexico
Mexico's compensatory education program provides extra resources to primary schools that enroll disadvantaged students in highly disadvantaged rural communities. One of the most important components of the program is the school-based management intervention known as AGEs. The impact of the AGEs is assessed on intermediate school quality indicators (failure, repetition and dropout), controlling for the presence of the conditional cash transfer program. Results prove that school-based management is an effective measure for improving outcomes, based on an over time difference-in-difference evaluation. Complementary qualitative evidence corroborates the veracity of such findings. Mexico: Two decades of the evolution of education and inequality
Mexico experienced a pronounced increase in the degree of inequality and earnings inequality over the 1980s and mid-1990s. Contrary to the trend in the distribution of total income inequality, there has been an improvement in the distribution of earnings inequality since 1996. This paper shows the following results. First, education has the highest gross contribution in explaining changes in earnings distribution. Second, both changes in the distribution of education and in the relative earnings among educational groups have always been in phase with the alterations in the earnings distribution. Specifically, when the income profile effect related to education became steeper and the inequality of education increased, the earnings distribution worsened (as in the 1988-1996 period). Third, changes in the relative earnings among educational groups are always the leading force behind changes in inequality. Mexico: Human capital effects on wages and productivity
They follow the Hellerstein, Neumark, and Troske (1999) framework, to estimate marginal productivity differentials and compare them to estimated relative wages, in order to provide evidence on productivity and non-productivity-based determinations of wages. Special emphasis is given in this paper to the effects of human capital variables, such as education, experience, and training, on wages and productivity differentials. Higher education yields higher productivity; however, highly educated workers earn less than their productivity differentials would predict. On average, highly educated workers are unable to fully appropriate their productivity gains of education through wages. On the other hand, workers with more experience are more productive in the same proportion that they earn more in medium and large firms, meaning they are fully compensated for their higher productivity. Finally, workers in micro and small firms are paid more than what their productivity would merit. Training benefits firms and employees since it significantly increases workers’ productivity and their earnings. Can migration reduce educational attainment? Evidence from Mexico
This paper examines the impact of migration on educational attainment in rural Mexico. Using historical migration rates by state to instrument for current migration, we find evidence of a significant negative effect of migration on schooling attendance and attainment of 12 to 18 year-old boys and 16 to 18 year-old girls. IV-Censored Ordered Probit results show that living in a migrant household lowers the chances of boys completing junior high school and of boys and girls completing high school. The negative effect of migration on schooling is somewhat mitigated for younger girls with low educated mothers, which is consistent with remittances relaxing credit constraints on education investment for the very poor. However, for the majority of rural Mexican children, family migration depresses educational attainment. Comparison of the marginal effects of migration on school attendance and on participation in other activities shows that the observed decrease in schooling of 16 to 18 year-olds is accounted for by the current migration of boys and increased housework for girls. Can student loans improve accessibility to higher education and student performance? An impact study of the case of SOFES, Mexico
Financial aid to students in tertiary education can contribute to human capital accumulation through two channels: increased enrollment and improved student performance. This paper analyzes the quantitative importance of both channels in the context of a student loan program (SOFES) implemented at private universities in Mexico. With regard to enrollment, results from the Mexican household survey indicate that financial support has a strong positive effect on university enrollment. Given completion of upper secondary education, the probability of entering higher education rises 24 percent. With regard to student performance, empirical results suggest that SOFES recipients show better academic performance than students without a credit from SOFES. However, the results cannot be interpreted as a purely causal impact of the student loan program, since the impacts also could reflect (self-) selection of students. Mexico - Making education more effective by compensating for disadvantages, introducing school-based management, and enhancing accountability : a policy note This report presents the results of background studies of several key Mexican programs (those aimed at students facing specific disadvantages and school-based management programs) and discusses their policy implications. It also presents new findings on the role of accountability systems. The findings presented here are supported by the World Bank's forthcoming Mexico Poverty Report Phase III on service delivery. In short, the Poverty Report calls on the public sector to promote models that improve pedagogical practice and evaluation at the local level and that encourage accountability at all levels. This report identifies some of the innovative state actions that have improved the quality of education and have enhanced equity in access to education. The impact evaluations undertaken as part of this study have shown that several key education programs in Mexico improve educational outcomes. In addition, compensatory programs and school-based management programs have been shown to be cost-effective. Guatemala, Mexico and Peru Quality of schooling and quality of schools for indigenous students in Guatemala, Mexico and Peru
A substantial gap in test scores exists between indigenous and non-indigenous students in Latin America. Using test score data for 3rd and 4th year primary school pupils in Guatemala and Peru and 5th grade pupils in Mexico, we assess the magnitude of the indigenous/non-indigenous test score gap and identify the main family and school inputs contributing to the gap. A decomposition of the gap into its constituent components suggests that the proportion that is explained by family and school characteristics is between 41 and 75 percent of the overall testscore gap. Furthermore, family variables contribute more than school variables to the overall explained component. Uruguay More time is better : an evaluation of the full time school program in Uruguay
This paper estimates the impact of the full-time school program in Uruguay on standardized test scores of 6th grade students. The program lengthened the school day from a half day to a full day, and provided additional inputs to schools to make this possible, such as additional teachers and construction of classrooms. The program was not randomly placed, but targeted poor urban schools. Using propensity score matching, the authors construct a comparable group of schools, and show that students in very disadvantaged schools improved in their test scores by 0.07 of a standard deviation per year of participation in the full-time program in mathematics, and 0.04 in language. While the program is expensive, it may, if well targeted, help address inequalities in education in Uruguay, at an increase in cost per student not larger than the current deficit in spending between Uruguay and the rest of the region. s indicates that content is in Spanish |
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