Working Paper: NBER ID: w17591
Authors: Eric A. Hanushek; Susanne Link; Ludger Woessmann
Abstract: Decentralization of decision-making is among the most intriguing recent school reforms, in part because countries went in opposite directions over the past decade and because prior evidence is inconclusive. We suggest that autonomy may be conducive to student achievement in well-developed systems but detrimental in low-performing systems. We construct a panel dataset from the four waves of international PISA tests spanning 2000-2009, comprising over one million students in 42 countries. Relying on panel estimation with country fixed effects, we identify the effect of school autonomy from within-country changes in the average share of schools with autonomy over key elements of school operations. Our results show that autonomy affects student achievement negatively in developing and low-performing countries, but positively in developed and high-performing countries. These results are unaffected by a wide variety of robustness and specification tests, providing confidence in the need for nuanced application of reform ideas.
Keywords: School Autonomy; Student Achievement; PISA; Decentralization; Educational Policy
JEL Codes: H4; I20; I25; J24; O15
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| School autonomy (I28) | Student achievement (I24) |
| Stronger institutions (O17) | Benefits from decentralization (H77) |
| Weaker institutions (O17) | Detrimental effects of autonomy (D91) |
| Autonomy over academic content (A19) | Student achievement in developed countries (O57) |
| Autonomy over academic content (A19) | Student achievement in developing countries (O57) |