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Measuring the Impact of Socio-Economic Factors on School Efficiency in Australia

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  • Kalyan Chakraborty

    (University of West Florida)

  • Richard K. Harper

    (University of West Florida)

Abstract

This paper examines the productive efficiency of government schools in New South Wales (NSW) in Australia. The study uses a technical inefficiency effects model applied to a unique three-year panel dataset containing 1235 primary and 371 secondary schools in NSW. A stochastic frontier production function and an inefficiency effects function that control for school socioeconomic and environmental factors are estimated. The dataset contains information on various school inputs, school expenditures by major functional area, parental socioeconomic characteristics, student characteristics, and standardized test scores. We examine the degree to which school and non-school educational inputs influence student achievement scores and find that, overall, primary schools are 88.6% and secondary schools 96.4% efficient. The index describing community socio-educational advantage has the most significant influence on students’ achievement scores.

Suggested Citation

  • Kalyan Chakraborty & Richard K. Harper, 2017. "Measuring the Impact of Socio-Economic Factors on School Efficiency in Australia," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 45(2), pages 163-179, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:atlecj:v:45:y:2017:i:2:d:10.1007_s11293-017-9542-x
    DOI: 10.1007/s11293-017-9542-x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Alexander Arévalo S & Víctor Giménez G & Diego Prior J, 2022. "Análisis de eficiencia en educación: una aplicación del método StoNED," Revista Desarrollo y Sociedad, Universidad de los Andes,Facultad de Economía, CEDE, vol. 92(2), pages 45-91, October.
    2. Sam Jones, 2020. "Testing the Technology of Human Capital Production: A General‐to‐Restricted Framework," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 82(6), pages 1429-1455, December.

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