Juan Pablo Valenzuela

Socioeconomic school segregation in a market-oriented educational system. The case of Chile

This paper presents an empirical analysis of the socioeconomic status (SES) school segregation in Chile, whose educational system is regarded as an extreme case of a market-oriented education. The study estimated the magnitude and evolution of the SES segregation of schools at both national and local levels, and it studied the relationship between some local educational market dynamics and the observed magnitude of SES school segregation at municipal level. The main findings were: first, the magnitude of the SES segregation of both low-SES and high-SES students in Chile was very high (Duncan Index ranged from 0.50 to 0.60 in 2008); second, during the last decade, SES school segregation tended to slightly increase in Chile, especially in high schools (both public and private schools); third, private schools – including voucher schools – were more segregated than public schools for both low-SES and high-SES students; and finally, some market dynamics operating in the Chilean education (like privatization, school choice, and fee-paying) accounted for a relevant proportion of the observed variation in SES school segregation at municipal level. These findings are analyzed from an educational policy perspective in which the link between SES school segregation and market-oriented mechanisms in education plays a fundamental role.

POLARIZACION Y COHESION SOCIAL DEL SISTEMA ESCOLAR CHILENO

This research gives the magnitude, evolution and characteristics of academic and socioeconomic polarization in the Chilean school system. After examining the importance of the education system as a means of social cohesion, we analyze the implications of distribution processes of students in their education and the main background on the Chilean education system. Furthermore, the paper conceptualizes the notion of polarization, which is related to two aspects: the alienation or distance that students have with students different from them, and the identification or identity that individuals develop with others of similar characteristics. Using SIMCE databases from the last decade, we create and formalized three different indicators of polarization to assess the school system. The results show that the degree of academic and socio-economic polarization of the Chilean school system over the last decade has been constant, and in some cases increasing. Additionally, the measurement that determines the degree of polarization shows high levels socioeconomic and academic polarization, which is related to processes of fragmentation and clustering. These results show the necessity of analyzing the impact of educational policies on the processes of social cohesion and integration in the school system. This has to consider the importance of the school as a privileged place for these goals, as well as on the development of skills, values and cognitive thinking and noncognitive skills for all children. These results have been questioned from recent conflicts that have occurred in the education sector.

Examinando la prominente posición de Chile a nivel mundial en cuanto a desigualdad de ingresos: comparaciones regionales

En el contexto latinoamericano, Chile tiene el nivel mas alto de ingreso per capita y del indice de desarrollo humano, aunque la distribucion del ingreso es bastante desigual. A diferencia de Uruguay, Chile tiene una de las distribuciones de ingreso mas desiguales de la region. En el 2003, Chile tenia un coeficiente de Gini de 8,5 puntos mas altos que Uruguay. Usando microsimulaciones, el analisis muestra que la mayor parte de la diferencia relativa a la distribucion del ingreso proviene de los hogares mas ricos, particularmente aquellos que pertenecen al 2% mas alto. Dichos hogares obtienen una mayor proporcion de recursos provenientes de ingresos no laborales. Al mismo tiempo, la diferencia en retornos a la educacion superior explica otro 20% de las diferencias de ingreso entre Chile y Uruguay. Las condiciones sociales como los beneficios de seguridad social y la participacion de la mujer en el mercado del trabajo no son significativas para explicar las diferencias entre ambos paises. Finalmente, este articulo muestra que el ajuste de la informacion de los ingresos de la encuesta de hogares chilena a las cuentas nacionales explica un tercio de la brecha entre los coeficientes de Gini de Chile y Uruguay. Sin el ajuste a las cuentas nacionales, la brecha en la distribucion de ingresos entre ambos paises disminuiria en tres puntos la estimacion anterior. A pesar de esta significativa reduccion las razones para explicar la brecha permanecerian identicas frente a analisis anteriores.

Estabilidad en la desigualdad: Chile 1990-2003

Este estudio mide los impactos de los cambios en los determinantes de los ingresos en la desigualdad en el periodo entre 1990 y 2003, con el objeto de responder la pregunta sobre por que la distribucion del ingreso como un todo no ha cambiado. La metodologia utilizada es microsimulaciones de la distribucion de ingresos, que es la tecnica mas apropiada para analizar la relacion entre cambios en los factores determinantes y cambios en la desigualdad de ingresos. Se analiza el rol de los retornos, las tasas de participacion, decisiones ocupacionales, dotaciones de escolaridad, subsidios, pensiones y el tamano de los hogares. La inercia mostrada por la desigualdad refleja la interrelacion de factores que se cancelan unos a otros, otros que operan lentamente en el tiempo, y la emergencia de nuevos desarrollos que afectan la distribucion. Ademas, no se observan claras indicaciones de que esta situacion cambie en los proximos anos. Un progreso en esta area requerira una politica publica mas activa que en el pasado.

School improvement trajectories: an empirical typology

ABSTRACT This paper is based on a multiple case study of schools which have been identified as improving their performance for about a decade. We proposed different criteria by which to characterize and study these improvement processes and, by applying them to our sample, we elaborated a typology of school improvement trajectories: we identified 4 different trajectories of school improvement. We called the first type restricted improvement because at its center is the management of processes that mainly target academic achievement tests; the second is incipient improvement, which is based on changes that restructure the school processes; the third identified trajectory are cases where school improvement is moving toward institutionalization, while the last are those cases where improvement has been already institutionalized and the schools have achieved high levels of educational effectiveness. We identified challenges that schools face at different stages of school improvement and discussed some related policy issues.

Ley de Subvención Escolar Preferencial (SEP): algunos resultados preliminares de su implementación

ISSN: 0719-0409 DDI: 203.262, Santiago, Chile doi:10.7764/PEL.50.2.2013.17 El presente estudio entrega diversos resultados cuantitativos del impacto de la Ley de Subvencion Escolar Preferencial (SEP) en la calidad y equidad del sistema educativo chileno. Considerando la importante cantidad de recursos, los cambios en la estructura de financiamiento y las transformaciones en el proceso de mejora continua que ha generado, la SEP se considera una de las mayores reformas de las ultimas decadas. Se entregan resultados de estudios preliminares de la SEP en tres areas: la entrega de mayores oportunidades de eleccion a los alumnos vulnerables, la mejora de resultados academicos y la mayor integracion del sistema. Los resultados muestran que, a pesar de ser una politica bien orientada y con importantes logros, la SEP no puede considerarse el principal mecanismo para que las escuelas cierren las brechas de calidad, ya que ha generado limitados cambios en las posibilidades de eleccion de los alumnos vulnerables, un mejoramiento de los resultados academicos heterogeneo y de mayor impacto en las escuelas autonomas y una casi inexistente mejora en los niveles de segregacion escolar. Todo esto lleva a plantear la necesidad de complementar esta reforma con una serie de politicas que se discuten en este articulo. Resumen

Measuring systematic long-term trajectories of school effectiveness improvement

ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to identify trajectories of school improvement experienced by Chilean elementary schools over the last decade. Using econometric analysis and controlling for potential confounding factors, we created an index of school performance combining outcome indicators focused on different school dimensions, and estimated the 2002/2010 evolution of school improvement for all Chilean schools with available data. Broadly, we estimated an average increase in the school performance of about 0.19 SD; nevertheless, while 41% of the schools increased their educational performance by at least 0.1 SD, 25% of the schools decreased it during the same period; we also found that improving school effectiveness was more probable among schools with lower student socioeconomic status (SES). Finally, we found that the observed school improvement trajectories tended to be non-linear; thus, we estimated that only 13.4% of the schools improved their performance in a systematic way during the entire decade.

External Technical Support for School Improvement: Critical Issues from the Chilean Experience.

To what extent school improvement processes can be initiated and sustained from the outside has been a relevant question for policy-makers seeking to increase quality in education. Since 2008, the Chilean Government is strongly promoting the use of external technical support (ETS) services to support school improvement processes, as part of the Student Priority Voucher programme, a compensatory policy that provides significant additional resource to schools serving the poorest 40% of students. Participating schools and ETS providers negotiate services and prices in a market-like dynamic. In this paper, we describe the Chilean ETS policy, discuss the ETS policy implementation, review the empirical evidence about the effects of ETS services in schools, and critically analyse the ETS policy as an instrument for school improvement. We argue that experts who are knowledgeable in the field of education have the potential to effectively support schools in need of improvement. However, brokers and external consultants providing school support in Chile within a market-oriented framework typically lack the characteristics associated with positive effects; this raises the critical issue of developing professional capacities within schools to produce genuine and sustainable improvement processes.

Over-Estimating the Effects of Teacher Attributes on School Performance in the Chilean Education System

This article investigates the biases involved in estimating the effects of teacher attributes on school’s performance. The study was performed for Chilean educational system, where student distribution is differentiated by schools and teachers are not randomly assigned to them. Findings showed that teacher attributes which favored learning appeared more frequently alongside higher socioeconomic status students. When correcting the bias, results showed that the effects of teacher attributes have been overestimated for the vast majority of characteristics. Nonetheless, attributes such as teaching experience, being a woman, having short-term specific professional training, and having a greater curriculum coverage continued to have positive impacts on the performance of 4th grade students.

ESTUDIO DEL ANGULO FIBRILAR Y SU RELACION CON LA EDAD CAMBIAL EN Pinus radiata D.DON, PROVENIENTE DE LA SEPTIMA REGION, CHILE

espanolEl objetivo general de este estudio, fue medir el angulo fibrilar y establecer su relacion con la edad, en arboles de Pinus radiata (D.DON.). Se escogieron aleatoriamente cinco arboles, a los cuales se les extrajeron rodelas a la altura del DAP, especificamente probetas de los anillos de crecimiento 1, 5, 10, 15 y 17(desde la medula a la corteza). A dichos anillos de crecimiento, se les aplico el metodo de Senft y Bendtsen (1985) para medir el angulo fibrilar. El valor del angulo fibrilar promedio para los cinco arboles fue de 18o, con un valor maximo de 43o y un minimo de 2o. En tanto, el valor promedio para los anillos muestreados fue de 38o para el anillo 1, 22o para el 5, 16o para el 10, 11o para el 15 y 4o para el 17. La relacion entre la edad y el angulo fibrilar, se establecio mediante el ajuste de distintos modelos de regresiones lineales multiples (lineal, cuadratico y cubico), donde el modelo cubico presento las mejores caracteristicas de ajuste (R2 = 0,99). El estudio determino estadisticamente que la edad posee un efecto significativo en el valor que adopta el angulo fibrilar. Ambas fuentes de variacion (edad y arbol) fueron estudiadas estadisticamente para comprobar si habia interaccion entre ellas, determinandose que cada variable actua en forma independiente en el valor del angulo fibrilar. EnglishThe general objective of this study was to measure the fibrilar angle and to establish its relationship with the age, in trees of Pinus radiata (D.DON). Five trees were chosen randomly and were extracted discs to the breast hight (1,3 m), specifically samples of the rings of growth 1, 5, 10, 15 and 17 (last ring from the pith). To this rings of growth, they were applied the method of Senft and Bendtsen (1985) to measure the fibrilar angle. The value of the fibrilar angle average for the five trees was of 18o, with a maximum value 43o and a minimum of 2o. As long as, the average value for the rings collected was of 38o for the ring 1, 22o for the 5, 16o for the 10, 11o for the 15 and 4o for the 17. The relationship between the age and the fibrilar angle, settled down by means of the adjustment of different models of lineal multiple regressions (lineal, quadratic and cubic), where the cubic pattern presented the best adjustment characteristcs (R2= 0,99). Both variation sources (age and tree) they were studied statistically to check if there was interaction among them, being determined that each variable acts in independent form on the fibrilar angle.