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A unified productivity-performance approach applied to secondary schools

Author

Listed:
  • Laurens Cherchye
  • Kristof De Witte
  • Sergio Perelman

Abstract

We introduce a novel diagnostic tool to improve the performance of public services. We propose a method to compute performance/productivity ratios, which can be applied as soon as data on production units' outcomes and resources are available. Assuming outcome improvement as the main objective in a public services context, these ratios have an intuitive interpretation: values below unity indicate that better outcomes can be attained through weaker resource constraints (pointing at scarcity of resources) and, conversely, values above unity indicate that better outcomes can be achieved with the given resources (pointing at unexploited production capacity). We demonstrate the practical usefulness of our methodology through an application to secondary schools, where we account for outlier behaviour and environmental effects by using a robust nonparametric estimation method. Our results indicate that in most cases schools' performance improvement is a matter of unexploited production capacity, while scarcity of resources is a lesser issue.

Suggested Citation

  • Laurens Cherchye & Kristof De Witte & Sergio Perelman, 2019. "A unified productivity-performance approach applied to secondary schools," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 70(9), pages 1522-1537, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:tjorxx:v:70:y:2019:i:9:p:1522-1537
    DOI: 10.1080/01605682.2018.1489351
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Zohreh Moghaddas & Alireza Amirteimoori & Reza Kazemi Matin, 2022. "Selective proportionality and integer-valued data in DEA: an application to performance evaluation of high schools," Operational Research, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 3435-3459, September.
    2. Agasisti, Tommaso & de Oliveira Ribeiro, Celma & Montemor, Daniel Sanches, 2022. "The efficiency of Brazilian elementary public schools," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    3. Juan Aparicio & Sergio Perelman & Daniel Santín, 2022. "Comparing the evolution of productivity and performance gaps in education systems through DEA: an application to Latin American countries," Operational Research, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 1443-1477, April.
    4. Stylianos Gr. Margaritis & Constantinos P. Tsamadias & Elias E. Argyropoulos, 2022. "Investigating the Relative Efficiency and Productivity Change of Upper Secondary Schools: the Case of Schools in the Region of Central Greece," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 13(1), pages 128-160, March.
    5. D'Inverno, Giovanna & Moesen, Wim & De Witte, Kristof, 2022. "Local government size and service level provision. Evidence from conditional non-parametric analysis," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    6. Giménez, Víctor & Prior, Diego & Thieme, Claudio & Tortosa-Ausina, Emili, 2024. "International comparisons of COVID-19 pandemic management: What can be learned from activity analysis techniques?," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    7. D’Inverno, Giovanna & Smet, Mike & De Witte, Kristof, 2021. "Impact evaluation in a multi-input multi-output setting: Evidence on the effect of additional resources for schools," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 290(3), pages 1111-1124.
    8. Oleg Badunenko & Deni Mazrekaj & Subal C. Kumbhakar & Kristof Witte, 2021. "Persistent and transient inefficiency in adult education," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 60(6), pages 2925-2942, June.

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