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Academic Benefits to Full-Time Schools: Evidence from Fortaleza

Author

Listed:
  • Ricardo Estrada

    (Department of Socioeconomic Research CAF—Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean Mexico City, Mexico)

  • Agustina Hatrick

    (Independent Researcher Buenos Aires, Argentina)

  • Cecilia Llambi

    (Country Office Uruguay CAF—Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean Montevideo, Uruguay)

Abstract

Although full-time schools are increasingly available in developing countries, there is a lack of consensus on their effectiveness. Motivated by this gap, this paper studies the effect of enrolling in a new set of full-time schools in the city of Fortaleza, Brazil. For identification, enrollment is instrumented with the distance from the student’s graduating primary school to the closest full-time school in operation at that time. The results show that enrollment in a full-time school increases lower secondary–school graduation by 11 percentage points and improves math test scores at the end of this schooling level by 0.22 standard deviation. These findings highlight the potential of full-time schools to significantly improve both student progression and learning outcomes.

Suggested Citation

  • Ricardo Estrada & Agustina Hatrick & Cecilia Llambi, 2026. "Academic Benefits to Full-Time Schools: Evidence from Fortaleza," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 21(3), pages 431-451, Summer.
    • Handle: RePEc:tpr:edfpol:v:21:y:2026:i:3:p:431-451
    DOI: 10.1162/EDFP.a.24
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