Does the educational management model matter? New evidence from a quasiexperimental approach

A growing literature has appeared in the last 2 decades with the aim to explore if the way in which publicly funded private schools are managed (a very autonomous mode) is more effective, than that applied in public schools (where decisions are highly centralized), concerning the promotion of student’s educational skills. Our paper contributes to this literature providing new evidence from the Spanish experience. To this end, we use the Spanish Assessment named “Evaluación de Diagnóstico,” a national yearly standardized test given to students in the fourth grade and administered by the Regional Educational Authorities. In particular, our data are those corresponding to the assessment conducted in the Spanish region of Aragón in 2010. Our methodological strategy is defined by the sequential application of two methods: propensity score matching and hierarchical linear models. Additionally, the sensitivity of our estimates is also tested with respect to unobserved heterogeneity. Our results underline the existence of a slight advantage of the private management model of schools in the promotion of scientific abilities of students and in the acquisition of foreign language (English) skills.