Three recent studies have identified elements that help generate positive performance results in public schools.\u00a0Besides more access to funding, collaborations between institutions, constantly investing in teacher qualification, and using external assessments to plan improvement strategies are among the common findings of the analyses, which involved medium-sized Brazilian municipalities, such as the city of Ribeir\u00e3o Preto (S\u00e3o Paulo) and the state of Cear\u00e1.<\/p>\n
Covering medium-sized Brazilian cities, with populations ranging from 100,000 to 500,000, the study by economists Ricardo Paes de Barros and Laura M\u00fcller Machado, from Insper, was commissioned by the S\u00e9rgio Henrique Ferreira Chair at the University of S\u00e3o Paulo Institute for Advanced Studies (IEA-USP) in Ribeir\u00e3o Preto. According to the study, schools from municipalities with a high Human Development Index (HDI) scored up to 1.3 points higher in the Primary Education Development Index (IDEB), which grades schools from 0 to 10.\u00a0\u201c<\/em>However, wealth alone does not explain good education results,\u201d states Barros.<\/p>\n When it comes to factors external to the school that positively influence the IDEB, Barros explains that medium-sized cities usually focus more on education\u2014unlike larger ones, where it can be lost among other priorities. \u201cIn medium-sized cities, the social prestige of teachers is higher and students are closer, meaning they encourage each other,\u201d explains Barros.\u00a0Although this also occurs in small cities, medium-sized ones usually win in terms of scale. \u201cTheir institutions are larger and can offer several different educational tracks,\u201d says the economist.\u00a0The research also found that the percentage When comparing the results from Sobral (Cear\u00e1) and Itabuna (Bahia)\u2014both with a population of around 300,000 but with IDEB results of 8.5 and 4, respectively\u2014the Insper economist believes the collaboration with state schools is what makes the difference. \u201cIn Brazil, the state of Cear\u00e1 and the city of Sobral are exemplary in terms of reducing illiteracy.\u00a0The improvements result from a comprehensive package of education reforms,\u201d says World Bank economist Andre Loureiro.\u00a0As one of the coordinators of the study that investigated the strategies adopted by Cear\u00e1 to improve its level of education, Loureiro shares that, 20 years ago, the state had low literacy rates but improved through changes in the way the Tax on the Circulation of Goods and Services (ICMS) was distributed to its municipalities.\u00a0The state would allocate more money from this tax to towns that made progress toward education, health, and environmental goals.<\/p>\n \u201cSchools also get technical support from the state for literacy programs, as well as rewards for collaborating with institutions that perform poorly,\u201d details Loureiro.\u00a0Monitoring education results, which guide the education strategies adopted in subsequent years, and supporting teacher qualification efforts are also part of the initiatives.\u00a0Today, 10 of the 184 municipalities in Cear\u00e1 are among the top 20 in the IDEB ranking, including Sobral, which scores highest in the country.\u00a0According to the economist, the World Bank is currently working to take the Cear\u00e1 model to other regions of Brazil and the world.<\/p>\n Barros\u2019s research also investigated internal issues that affect the IDEB results.\u00a0One of the key issues is the training of teachers. \u201cHaving qualified teachers is important\u2014which we call crystallized pedagogy. But what we call pedagogy in action has a much more significant influence,\u201d says Barros, referring to frequent training and encouraged communication among teachers. \u201cSchools with well-trained teachers, and which invest in pedagogy in action, see an increase of 1.6 in their IDEB score\u2014as in the case of Apucarana,\u201d he shares.\u00a0Active class councils can increase an institution\u2019s IDEB score by 0.9, according to the study.\u00a0The institutions whose management boasts a pedagogical focus, and which use external assessments of their students to guide improvements, can score 1 point higher in the IDEB, while those with good infrastructure\u2014such as libraries, laboratories, and naturally ventilated classrooms\u2014can increase their score by up to 0.9 point.<\/p>\n Another study, which was jointly developed this year by researchers from USP, the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE), and Tiradentes University (UNIT) in Sergipe, assessed school performance and the causes of heterogeneity in municipal elementary schools in Ribeir\u00e3o Preto.\u00a0The research, led by Mozart Neves Ramos, found that, to reduce learning differences in the 5th\u00a0<\/sup>grade, the Municipal Secretariat of Education should foster collaborations between top-performing schools and those with poor results throughout all grades of the first cycle of elementary school.\u00a0The exchange of knowledge between institutions was also pointed out as a driver of education improvement in Cear\u00e1, according to the World Bank research.\u00a0To improve the performance of 9th<\/sup>\u00a0grade students, however, a different strategy is necessary: invest more in the training of mathematics teachers. \u201cWith its more than 5,000 municipalities, Brazil is an open-air laboratory in the search for education improvement.\u00a0The ongoing pandemic is challenging, but it also brings opportunities for system-wide reform,\u201d concludes Ildo Lautharte from the World Bank.<\/p>\n
\nof adults with university-level education in the cities contributes to positive IDEB results. \u201cA high number of individuals with university degrees means there are more teachers for the schools, and more pressure from society for good education results.\u201d<\/p>\n