Analysis of the change in levéis of achievement in vulnerable high schools

Abstract

The study of interactions between variables macro and micro in educational organizations, is a challenge in the understanding of the effects of social programs, organizational interventions and classroom strategies that seek to improve the quality and coverage of learning in schools. The goal of this study is to go further in the analysis of the effects of the Critical Schools Program in Chile, comparing the results of SIMCE (National System for Measuring the Quality of Education) 2002-2005-2006 with a control group. For this, a multilevel study was conducted that allows to explain better the variability of the results. We obtain that the largest increases occurs in schools that have a lower socioeconomic status. We estimated a school effect equivalent to 6% and we found that a significant predictor of individual academic achievement is the variable parents expectations. These results indícate the urgency of increasing the school impact in schools of high vulnerability.