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Can school competition improve standards? The case of faith schools in England

Author

Listed:
  • Rebecca Allen

    (UCL Institute of Education)

  • Anna Vignoles

    (University of Cambridge)

Abstract

This paper measures the extent to which the presence of state-funded Catholic secondary schools in England alters the educational experiences of pupils who attend neighbouring schools, whether through school effort induced by competition or changes in peer groups induced by sorting. National administrative data are used to estimate pupil test score growth models between the ages of 11 and 16, with instrumental variable methods employed to avoid confounding the direct causal effect of Catholic schools. The historical Catholic population, holding constant the current Catholic population, is used to predict current Catholic school supply. We find little evidence that competition from Catholic schools raises area-wide pupil attainment.

Suggested Citation

  • Rebecca Allen & Anna Vignoles, 2016. "Can school competition improve standards? The case of faith schools in England," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 50(3), pages 959-973, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:empeco:v:50:y:2016:i:3:d:10.1007_s00181-015-0949-4
    DOI: 10.1007/s00181-015-0949-4
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    1. David Card & Martin D. Dooley & A. Abigail Payne, 2010. "School Competition and Efficiency with Publicly Funded Catholic Schools," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 2(4), pages 150-176, October.
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    10. Bradley, Steve & Johnes, Geraint & Millington, Jim, 2001. "The effect of competition on the efficiency of secondary schools in England," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 135(3), pages 545-568, December.
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    16. Caroline Minter Hoxby, 1994. "Do Private Schools Provide Competition for Public Schools?," NBER Working Papers 4978, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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    Cited by:

    1. Heller-Sahlgren, Gabriel, 2018. "Smart but unhappy: Independent-school competition and the wellbeing-efficiency trade-off in education," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 66-81.
    2. María Jesús Mancebón & Domingo P. Ximénez-de-Embún & Mauro Mediavilla & José María Gómez-Sancho, 2019. "Does the educational management model matter? New evidence from a quasiexperimental approach," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 56(1), pages 107-135, January.
    3. María-Jesús Mancebón & Domingo P. Ximénez-de-Embún & Mauro Mediavilla & José-María Gómez-Sancho, 2015. "Does educational management model matter? New evidence for Spain by a quasiexperimental approach," Working Papers 2015/40, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    4. Agasisti, Tommaso, 2011. "How competition affects schools' performances: Does specification matter?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 110(3), pages 259-261, March.
    5. Andrew McKendrick & Ian Walker, 2020. "The Roles of Faith and Faith Schooling in Educational, Economic, and Faith Outcomes," Working Papers 302455074, Lancaster University Management School, Economics Department.
    6. Simon Burgess & Estelle Cantillon & Mariagrazia Cavallo & Ellen Greaves & Min Zhang, 2023. "School admissions in England: The rules schools choose on which pupils to admit," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/356676, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    School competition; Religious schooling; School quality;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H11 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - Structure and Scope of Government
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy

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