We study the effects of managerial practices in schools on student outcomes. We measure managerial practices using the World Management Survey, a methodology that enables us to construct robust measures of management quality comparable across countries. We find substantial heterogeneity in managerial practices across six industrialized countries, with more centralized systems (Italy and Germany) lagging behind the more autonomous ones (Canada, Sweden, the UK, the US). For Italy, we are able to match organizational practices at the school level with student outcomes in a math standardized test. We find that managerial practices are positively related to student outcomes. The estimates imply that if Italy had the same managerial practices as the UK (the best performer), it would close the gap in the math OECD-PISA test with respect to the OECD average. We argue that our results are robust to selection issues and show that they are confirmed by a set of IV estimates and by a large number of robustness checks. Overall, our results suggest that policies directed at improving student cognitive achievements should take into account principals selection and training in terms of managerial capabilities.

Managerial Practices and Student Performance

DI LIBERTO, ADRIANA;SULIS, GIOVANNI
2015-01-01

Abstract

We study the effects of managerial practices in schools on student outcomes. We measure managerial practices using the World Management Survey, a methodology that enables us to construct robust measures of management quality comparable across countries. We find substantial heterogeneity in managerial practices across six industrialized countries, with more centralized systems (Italy and Germany) lagging behind the more autonomous ones (Canada, Sweden, the UK, the US). For Italy, we are able to match organizational practices at the school level with student outcomes in a math standardized test. We find that managerial practices are positively related to student outcomes. The estimates imply that if Italy had the same managerial practices as the UK (the best performer), it would close the gap in the math OECD-PISA test with respect to the OECD average. We argue that our results are robust to selection issues and show that they are confirmed by a set of IV estimates and by a large number of robustness checks. Overall, our results suggest that policies directed at improving student cognitive achievements should take into account principals selection and training in terms of managerial capabilities.
2015
management; school proncipals; cognitive skills
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
11 Economic Policy.pdf

Solo gestori archivio

Dimensione 450.28 kB
Formato Adobe PDF
450.28 kB Adobe PDF   Visualizza/Apri   Richiedi una copia
DiLSchiSulFinal.pdf

accesso aperto

Tipologia: versione post-print
Dimensione 329.96 kB
Formato Adobe PDF
329.96 kB Adobe PDF Visualizza/Apri

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11584/110690
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus 19
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 17
social impact