IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/jdevst/v44y2008i10p1506-1530.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Can Schools Reduce the Indigenous Test Score Gap? Evidence from Chile

Author

Listed:
  • Patrick McEwan

Abstract

In Chile, indigenous students obtain lower test scores, on average, than non-indigenous students. Between two cohorts of eighth-graders in the late 1990s, the test score gap declined by 0.1 to 0.2 standard deviations. An Oaxaca decomposition and related descriptive evidence suggest that the most plausible explanation is related to Chile's large-scale school reforms that were targeted at low-achieving schools and students. The paper evaluates and rules out alternate explanations such as relative improvements in indigenous socioeconomic status, and sorting of indigenous students between schools. The results highlight a potential lever for reducing earnings gaps between indigenous and nonindigenous adults.

Suggested Citation

  • Patrick McEwan, 2008. "Can Schools Reduce the Indigenous Test Score Gap? Evidence from Chile," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(10), pages 1506-1530.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:jdevst:v:44:y:2008:i:10:p:1506-1530
    DOI: 10.1080/00220380802265223
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00220380802265223
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/00220380802265223?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kenneth Y. Chay & Patrick J. McEwan & Miguel Urquiola, 2005. "The Central Role of Noise in Evaluating Interventions That Use Test Scores to Rank Schools," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(4), pages 1237-1258, September.
    2. Alan B. Krueger & Pei Zhu, 2002. "Another Look at the New York City School Voucher Experiment," Working Papers 849, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    3. Alan B. Krueger & Pei Zhu, 2002. "Another Look at the New York City School Voucher Experiment," Working Papers 849, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    4. Charles T. Clotfelter & Helen F. Ladd & Jacob L. Vigdor, 2009. "The Academic Achievement Gap in Grades 3 to 8," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 91(2), pages 398-419, May.
    5. Hernandez-Zavala, Martha & Patrinos, Harry Anthony & Sakellariou, Chris & Shapiro, Joseph, 2006. "Quality of schooling and quality of schools for indigenous students in Guatemala, Mexico, and Peru," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3982, The World Bank.
    6. World Bank, 2001. "Peruvian Education at a Crossroads : Challenges and Opportunities for the 21st Century," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 13948, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Arteaga, Irma & Glewwe, Paul, 2019. "Do community factors matter? An analysis of the achievement gap between indigenous and non-indigenous children in Peru," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 80-91.
    2. Cavalcanti, Tiago & Guimaraes, Juliana & Sampaio, Breno, 2010. "Barriers to skill acquisition in Brazil: Public and private school students performance in a public university entrance exam," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 50(4), pages 395-407, November.
    3. Beatrice Schindler Rangvid, 2010. "Source country differences in test score gaps: evidence from Denmark," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(3), pages 269-295.
    4. Harold Alderman, 2011. "No Small Matter : The Impact of Poverty, Shocks, and Human Capital Investments in Early Childhood Development," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 2266, March.
    5. David Martínez Rojas & Wilson Muñoz Henríquez & Carlos Mondaca Rojas, 2021. "Racism, Interculturality, and Public Policies: An Analysis of the Literature on Migration and the School System in Chile, Argentina, and Spain," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(1), pages 21582440209, January.
    6. Gershberg, Alec Ian & González, Pablo Alberto & Meade, Ben, 2012. "Understanding and Improving Accountability in Education: A Conceptual Framework and Guideposts from Three Decentralization Reform Experiences in Latin America," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(5), pages 1024-1041.
    7. McEwan, Patrick J., 2013. "The impact of Chile's school feeding program on education outcomes," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 122-139.
    8. Canales, Andrea & Maldonado, Luis, 2018. "Teacher quality and student achievement in Chile: Linking teachers' contribution and observable characteristics," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 33-50.
    9. Santibañez, Lucrecia, 2016. "The indigenous achievement gap in Mexico: The role of teacher policy under intercultural bilingual education," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 63-75.
    10. Hynsjö, Disa & Damon, Amy, 2016. "Bilingual education in Peru: Evidence on how Quechua-medium education affects indigenous children's academic achievement," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 116-132.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Justine S. Hastings & Thomas J. Kane & Douglas O. Staiger, 2006. "Preferences and Heterogeneous Treatment Effects in a Public School Choice Lottery," NBER Working Papers 12145, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Lisa Sanbonmatsu & Jeffrey R. Kling & Greg J. Duncan & Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, 2006. "Neighborhoods and Academic Achievement: Results from the Moving to Opportunity Experiment," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 41(4).
    3. Bettinger, Eric & Slonim, Robert, 2006. "Using experimental economics to measure the effects of a natural educational experiment on altruism," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(8-9), pages 1625-1648, September.
    4. Roland G. Fryer, Jr, 2010. "Racial Inequality in the 21st Century: The Declining Significance of Discrimination," NBER Working Papers 16256, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Lai, Fang & Sadoulet, Elisabeth & de Janvry, Alain, 2009. "The adverse effects of parents' school selection errors on academic achievement: Evidence from the Beijing open enrollment program," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 485-496, August.
    6. Jean-Michel Plassard & Nhu Tran Thi Thanh, 2009. "Liberté de choix des élèves et concurrence des établissements : un survey de l'analyse du pilotage des systèmes éducatifs par les quasi-marchés," Revue d'économie industrielle, De Boeck Université, vol. 0(2), pages 99-130.
    7. Hastings, Justine S. & Kane, Thomas J. & Staiger, Douglas O., 2005. "Parental Preferences and School Competition: Evidence from a Public School Choice Program," Working Papers 10, Yale University, Department of Economics.
    8. Victor Lavy, 2006. "From Forced Busing to Free Choice in Public Schools: Quasi-Experimental Evidence of Individual and General Effects," NBER Working Papers 11969, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Priyanka Anand & Alejandra Mizala & Andrea Repetto, 2006. "Using School Scholarships to Estimate the Effect of Government Subsidized Private Education on Academic Achievement in Chile," Documentos de Trabajo 220, Centro de Economía Aplicada, Universidad de Chile.
    10. Figlio, David N. & Rouse, Cecilia Elena, 2006. "Do accountability and voucher threats improve low-performing schools?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(1-2), pages 239-255, January.
    11. Richard Buddin & Ron Zimmer, 2004. "The political dynamics of school choice: Negotiating contested rerrain," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(4), pages 929-932.
    12. Welsch, David M. & Zimmer, David M., 2012. "Do student migrations affect school performance? Evidence from Wisconsin's inter-district public school program," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 195-207.
    13. Joshua Angrist & Eric Bettinger & Michael Kremer, 2004. "Long-Term Consequences of Secondary School Vouchers: Evidence from Administrative Records in Colombia," NBER Working Papers 10713, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Justine S. Hastings & Thomas J. Kane & Douglas O. Staiger, 2006. "Gender and Performance: Evidence from School Assignment by Randomized Lottery," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(2), pages 232-236, May.
    15. Joshua Angrist & Eric Bettinger & Michael Kremer, 2006. "Long-Term Educational Consequences of Secondary School Vouchers: Evidence from Administrative Records in Colombia," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(3), pages 847-862, June.
    16. Dalton Conley & Rebecca Glauber, 2005. "Parental Educational Investment and Children's Academic Risk: Estimates of the Impact of Sibship Size and Birth Order from Exogenous Variations in Fertility," NBER Working Papers 11302, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Jesse Rothstein, 2004. "Good Principals or Good Peers? Parental Valuation of School Characteristics, Tiebout Equilibrium, and the Effects of Inter-district Competition," NBER Working Papers 10666, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Chang-Tai Hsieh & Miguel Urquiola, 2002. "When Schools Compete, How Do They Compete? An Assessment of Chile's Nationwide School Voucher Program," Working Papers 123, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Center for Economic Policy Studies..
    19. Julie Berry Cullen & Brian A. Jacob & Steven Levitt, 2003. "The Effect of School Choice on Student Outcomes: Evidence from Randomized Lotteries," NBER Working Papers 10113, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Kaoru Nabeshima, 2003. "Raising the quality of secondary education in East Asia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3140, The World Bank.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:jdevst:v:44:y:2008:i:10:p:1506-1530. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/FJDS20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.