Publicação de Gregory Elacqua

Dear colleagues, I am pleased to announce the publication of our paper "Report cards: Parental preferences, information and school choice in Haiti" in Economics of Education Review. https://lnkd.in/dfhPzf-R This randomized controlled trial examines school choice in rural Haitian markets, finding that disclosing test scores increased private school performance, market efficiency, and the correlation between prices and test scores, demonstrating information's potential to improve outcomes in low-income settings with large private education sectors.

Oportunidad interesante: ¡Estamos contratando un Especialista Senior en Educación en el BID! Postúlate ahora. Deadline 13 de junio https://lnkd.in/eqcsrASa

New paper: In recent years, many countries have adopted school-level quality measurement systems, or quality indices, to evaluate school performance (see our recent review here: https://lnkd.in/eBYFkCeS). While these indices serve mainly informational purposes in most systems, in others, they carry significant consequences for the evaluated schools. Our latest study, "The Effects of School Accountability on Teachers in Public and Private Schools: Evidence from Chile," (paper here https://lnkd.in/emDGkPqs) or (pdf here: https://lnkd.in/exQ_ZYXK) published with Diana Hincapie and Matias Martinez in "Education Finance and Policy", investigates the effects of Chile's high stakes quality index on teacher turnover in underperforming schools, both public and private. We find that teachers are more likely to leave schools with poor ratings, with differences in the exit patterns based on the management type. Public school teachers tend to switch schools, whereas private school teachers, especially the less effective ones, are more prone to leave the profession. Our findings suggest that this increased mobility stems from a dual dynamic: teachers' preference to avoid schools with low ratings and principals' strategic decisions to let go of less productive teachers, highlighting a potentially positive impact of the policy on school quality.

We are excited to share two technical notes that detail the benefits, costs, and savings of centralizing student admissions and teacher assignments. Utilizing the ingredients method, our findings reveal not only the low costs of implementation but also significant savings for governments and benefits for students, families, and teachers. Available in English, Spanish, and Portuguese, this work could be useful for policymakers exploring these reforms. Quantifying the benefits of digitalizing and centralizing teacher applications and assignments: https://lnkd.in/dPpEByHk Quantifying the benefits of digitalizing and centralizing student applications and assignment to schools: https://lnkd.in/dV8UwQbc Gregory Gregory Elacqua Principal Education Economist Social Sector Education Division IDB www.gregoryelacqua.com

Dear Colleagues, I'm pleased to share with you our latest IDB working paper, Exodus to Public School: Parent Preferences for Public Schools in Peru. This research focuses on the unprecedented migration of over 50,000 students from private to public schools during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, aided by a centralized assignment mechanism designed with the support of IDB for the Peruvian Ministry of Education. https://lnkd.in/d_vwtVRS Key highlights of the paper: Analysis of causal factors influencing parents' acceptance of public-school assignments and their decision to stay. Evaluation of the impact of distance, school quality, and peer demographics on these choices. Insights into how new school environments can alter parental preferences (theoretical framework). This study offers some new perspectives for improving public education systems. Comments are welcome.

New IDB Working Paper: Navigating Centralized Admissions: The Role of Parental Preferences in School Segregation in Chile https://lnkd.in/dgRW_w3R Excited to share our new IDB paper examining Chile's School Admission System. We explore its impact on school segregation and equity in access. Our findings show minimal effect on reducing segregation in schools, including pre-K and primary levels. Key insight: Low SES families often value non-academic attributes (like safety, inclusivity, and extracurriculars) more than academic quality. This highlights the need for admission policies that consider these preferences to effectively promote school diversity and equality.

📢 New IDB education research on centralized teacher assignment in Sao Paulo and Ecuador Teachers constitute 60 to 90% of education budgets worldwide, yet few governments have centralized mechanisms for teacher allocation. Most teachers continue to apply for vacancies or transfers either at the local government office or directly at the school. The City of Sao Paulo and Ecuador are exceptions, with digital processes in place for transfers and assignments. In response to nearly 20% of teachers (11,000) requesting transfers annually, the City of Sao Paulo established a centralized and digital teacher transfer process. In a recent working paper titled “Teacher transfers and the disruption of teacher staffing in the City of Sao Paulo,”  we explore the centralized matching system, teacher preferences for transfers, and the subsequent effects on sorting and efficiency. We find that factors such as distance from the teacher’s home, school test scores, and teacher composition greatly influence transfer preferences, which significantly vary by race, gender, and age. Ecuador employs a centralized teacher assignment system for new tenured teachers. In the recent working paper “The potential of smart matching platforms in teacher assignment: The case of Ecuador,” we examine the causal effect of combining a personalized non-assignment risk warning with a list of “achievable” teaching position recommendations on teacher applications within the digital matching process. We also assess the impact on the equilibrium probability of being assigned and the overall outcomes of the selection process.  Our findings reveal that teachers who received the treatment are more likely to modify their application and secure employment. Furthermore, the intervention contributed to higher overall assignment rates and an improved pool of teachers.

🔥 New article in EEPA: Selection instruments and teacher value-added in Peru https://lnkd.in/eSn69rQq Selecting more effective teachers during the hiring process is a highly cost-effective way of improving educational quality because it avoids the significant costs of exposing students to ineffective teachers and removing low-performing teachers. However, most school systems in LAC select teachers using education credentials and completion of graduate programs, which have little to no power to explain variation in performance across teachers. One notable exception is Peru. In this new article published yesterday in EEPA, we find that logical reasoning and curricular, pedagogic knowledge assessments are the best predictors of our teacher value-added measure. School-level instruments (interview/demonstration class) are not good predictors of teacher effectiveness. These results provide lessons for the design and implementation of teacher selection instruments in teacher hiring processes in Peru and other countries in LAC and other regions. https://lnkd.in/eSn69rQq #teacher #teachertraining #teacherselection #Peru #valueadded