Do charter schools really make a difference? The role and impact of Colegios en Concesión (CEC) in Bogotá

1

Do charter schools really make a difference? The role and impact of

Colegios en Concesión (CEC) in Bogotá

Andreu Termes, Xavier Bonal and Antoni Verger.

2015 Annual Conference of the Comparative and International Education Society

“Ubuntu! Imagining a Humanist Education Globally”, Washington D.C., March 8-13.

Structure

1. Program characteristics2. Methodology Realist evaluation3. Research results

a) How are the charter schools organized? b) What pedagogical approaches do they

advance? c) What academic results have been obtained

by them?

4. Discussion

2

Program characteristicsContext: (a) Low enrollment rates; (b)

Lack of school places; (c) School day.25 schools managed by 9 private providers in Bogotá poorer areas

Schools’ dutiesa) ↑ services and facilitiesb) Academic results > nearby public

schools’c) No students’ selectiond) Profit not allowed

3

Pre-primary Primary Lower Secondary

Upper Secondary

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

63%

87%71%

41%

Net enrollment (Bogotá, 2012)

4

The program’s theory of change

Objectives:

1) ↑ academic performance of poor students

2) ↑ pedagogical diversity of the system

3) ↑ educational coverage

Underlying mechanisms:

4) School autonomy

5) Transfer of (private sector) know-how

6) Institutional control and accountability

Methodology

Realist evaluation approach

Sample: Bogotá’s CEC & public schools

Methods:

qualitative (interviews, focus groups) &

quantitative (questionnaires, statistical

analysis) actors (teachers, principals, students, key-informants)

5

How are the CEC organized?

Both autonomy & recentralization↓ teachers’ employment conditions

↑ pedagogical activities↑ facilities and servicesCream skimming

6

What pedagogical approaches do they advance?

Both autonomy & recentralizationValues: religiosity,

entrepreneurship, discipline↑ Teaching to the testEconomic context limits

transference of know-how/pedagogical projects

Families’ engagement > participation

↑ Collective identity7

What academic results have been obtained?

Statistical analysis of standardized tests of 145 Bogotá schools when controlling SES and school day, school type is not statistically significant (OLS).

8

Charter s. Public s.0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

2743

45

46

2811

Scores in national assessments

Low and medium HighSuperior

Conclusions and discussion

↓teachers’ employment conditions = efficiency?

Scarce institutional control →cream skimming

Autonomy & recentralizationContext shaped practices of charters

(elite)↑ diversification and planning (≠ innovation)Controlling for SES and school day, no differences in academic outcomesSegregation… and continuity?

9

Thank you!

http://geps-uab.cat/@GEPSUAB

10

Cream skimming

“para entrar sí le hicieron una pruebas … yo me acuerdo que [en las pruebas] les hacían sumas, dibujos, cositas así, porque ella iba a entrar a cuarto y entonces había la selección, habían cuatro niños, tres cupos”(Parent 4 CEC 22, Bogotá, February 25, 2014).“De pronto piden el último boletín [escolar]” (Parent 1 CEC 24, Bogotá, March 26, 2014).

Charter s. Public s.0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

68

38

Principal participating in the process of students' selection (%)

Religious iconography in public schools?

Autonomy & Recentralization

13

Principal

Teachers

Parents

Secretary Edu.

Ministry Edu.

Private providers

External budget assignation

Public s. Charter

P rincipa l

Teachers

P arents

S ecretary E du.

M inistry E du.

P riva te providers

T eachers' salary

P ublic s . Charter

Princ ipal

Teachers

Parents

Secretary Edu.

Ministry Edu.

Private providers

Teachers' selection

P ublic s . Charter

Principal

Teachers

Parents

Secretary Edu.

Ministry Edu.

Private providers

Pedagogical project elaboration

Public s. Charter s.

Modern infrastructure within low SES contexts

14