How Effective are Private Schools in Latin America?

Private schools are considered to be relatively more effective than public schools at improving student outcomes.

The authors question this assumption by using data and multilevel modeling to assess the relative effectiveness of private and public schools in 10 Latin American countries. They state that:

• Prior studies have misrepresented the effect of private schools by failing to control for the characteristics of student peer groups;
• Achievement gaps between the public and private sectors reflect the effects of better peer group characteristics;
• Prior studies do not reflect the impact of private school practices or efficiency on student outcomes;
• Conditioning on a complete set of student, family, and peer characteristics explains much of the difference in achievement between public and private schools;
• Mean private school effect in the studies is approximately zero.