230 likes | 242 Views
Demand, Autonomy and Accountability: Lessons from International Analysis. Ludger Wößmann. International Seminar “Demand, Autonomy and Accountability in Schooling” OECD and Department of Education and Training, Flemish Community of Belgium 15-16 May, 2006. “Empowering” the Demand Side.
E N D
Demand, Autonomy and Accountability: Lessons from International Analysis Ludger Wößmann International Seminar “Demand, Autonomy and Accountability in Schooling” OECD and Department of Education and Training, Flemish Community of Belgium 15-16 May, 2006
“Empowering” the Demand Side • Basically all countries: • Ultimate responsibility and supervision by the state • But: public vs. private involvement in 2 broad tasks: • Operation of schools • Funding of schools • Public-private partnership (PPP) = any collaboration between public and private entities • Two forms of PPP: • Public operation + private funding • E.g., parents have to pay tuition fees for public schools • Private operation + public funding • Private operation by business, church, … • Public funding through base funding or vouchers
International Differences in Public Funding and Public Operation of Schools
Public Operation/Funding and Math Performance across Countries
Public Operation/Funding and Reading/Science Performance across Countries
Interactions of Operation and Funding Effect of public funding depending on type of operation:
Autonomy and Accountability • Complementarity: school autonomy + external exams • School autonomy allows: • Use of superior local knowledge (good for learning) • Opportunistic behaviour (bad for learning) • = Decentralised decision-makers get away with behaving in ways that advance their own interest rather than the system’s interest • If there is (a) asymmetric (decentralised) information = imperfect monitoring = limited accountability • And (b) opposing interests • Autonomy may be good or bad for student performance • Depending on whether in a given decision-making area, • there are local knowledge leadsand/or incentives for opportunistic behaviour
Autonomy and Accountability • External exams can ease asymmetric information • Provide information on how individual students perform relative to national (or regional) student population • Ease the monitoring problems inherent in education • Align incentives of local decision-makers with system goals • Make it more likely that schools act according to the goals of the system if they are given autonomy • By introducing accountability, external exams ease the “bad” effects of autonomy, ensuring a “good” net effect
Effects of Autonomy on Student Performance— With and Without External Exams —
Autonomy, External Exams and Student Performance –With Opportunism and WithLocal Knowledge Lead – Math test score TIMSS + TIMSS-R
Autonomy, External Exams and Student Performance –With Opportunism and WithLocal Knowledge Lead – Math test score PISA
Autonomy, External Exams and Student Performance –With Opportunism and WithLocal Knowledge Lead – Math test score TIMSS + TIMSS-R
Autonomy, External Exams and Student Performance –With Opportunism and WithLocal Knowledge Lead – Math test score PISA
Digression on Standardized Testing –With and Without Standards/Goals – Math test score PISA
Autonomy, External Exams and Student Performance –With Opportunism and WithoutLocal Knowledge Lead – Math test score TIMSS + TIMSS-R
Autonomy, External Exams and Student Performance –With Opportunism and WithoutLocal Knowledge Lead – Math test score TIMSS + TIMSS-R
Autonomy, External Exams and Student Performance –Without Opportunism and WithLocal Knowledge Lead – Math test score TIMSS + TIMSS-R
Demand, Autonomy and Accountability: Main Results from International Analyses • Public-private partnerships: • Public school operation student performance • Public school funding student performance • Most effective school systems: PPP where the state finances the schools and contracts the private sector to run them • Autonomy and external exams: • External exit exams student performance • School autonomy in systems with external exit exams • Complementarity: Decentralisation works – if combined with external examination. • Education policy should combine the two: • Setting and testing standards externally • but leaving it up to schools how to pursue them.
Demand, Autonomy and Accountability: Some Unresolved Issues • Equity of student outcomes • Non-cognitive skills as alternative outcome measures • Interactions between choice, autonomy and accountability • Additional measures of choice, autonomy and accountability • PISA 2003 data
The EENEE Website– www.education-economics.org – • www.education-economics.org as a forum to promote and disseminate research on the Economics of Education in Europe: www.education-economics.org Economics of Education References EENEE Mapping of Researchers Symposia What’s New