Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP14069
Authors: Clare Leaver; Renata Lemos; Daniela Scur
Abstract: Why do students learn more in some schools than others? One consideration receiving growing attention is school management. To study this, researchers need to be able to measure school management accurately and cheaply at scale. We introduce a new approach to measuring management practices using existing public data and exemplify the methodology with OECD's PISA and Brazil's Prova Brasil. Both indices show a strong, positive relationship between management and learning. But why do management practices impact student learning? We propose a new theoretical framework that maps school management to school functioning via intermediate outcomes relating to teachers and households, and from this to student learning. An application of our methods highlights that both principals and practices matter for student outcomes.
Keywords: management; teacher selection; teacher incentives; cross-country
JEL Codes: M5; I2; J3
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| strong management practices (M54) | improved student learning (I24) |
| strong management practices (M54) | teacher selection (C52) |
| strong management practices (M54) | teacher incentives (M52) |
| teacher selection (C52) | improved student learning (I24) |
| teacher incentives (M52) | improved student learning (I24) |
| good operations management practices (L23) | better student outcomes (I24) |
| good operations management practices (L23) | greater parental involvement (I24) |
| greater parental involvement (I24) | better student outcomes (I24) |
| strong management practices (M54) | student effort (D29) |
| student effort (D29) | better student outcomes (I24) |