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dc.titleDoes Technical Education Improve Academic Outcomes?: Evidence from Brazil
dc.contributor.authorElacqua, Gregory
dc.contributor.authorNavarro-Palau, Patricia
dc.contributor.authorPrada, María Fernanda
dc.contributor.authorSoares, Sammara
dc.contributor.orgunitEducation Division
dc.coverageBrazil
dc.coverageLatin America
dc.date.available2019-09-25T00:00:00
dc.date.issue2019-09-25T00:00:00
dc.description.abstractDespite the renewed interest in technical education, only a handful of studies analyze its effect on academic outcomes. In this paper we apply a regression discontinuity design to oversubscribed technical high school tracks in Pernambuco, Brazil, to identify the impact of technical education during high school on student academic outcomes. We find that students above the technical high school admission exam score cutoff drop out less from high school and have Math and Portuguese standardized test scores over 0.1 standard deviations higher than students below the cutoff. We also find that students above the cutoff were more likely to attend schools offering a longer school day and better school, teacher, and peer characteristics. Comparing technical high schools with academic schools with similar characteristics, we find no differences in terms of achievement but significantly lower dropout rates. This evidence suggests that the estimated effect of having the opportunity to enroll in technical high schools on student achievement may be driven by the school characteristics while the nature of the instructional content seems to be effective in reducing dropout rates during high school.
dc.format.extent58
dc.identifier.doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.18235/0001818
dc.identifier.urlhttps://publications.iadb.org/publications/english/document/Does_Technical_Education_Improve_Academic_Outcomes_Evidence_from_Brazil_en.pdf
dc.language.isoen
dc.mediumAdobe PDF
dc.publisherInter-American Development Bank
dc.subjectEducational Attainment
dc.subjectHigh School
dc.subjectVocational and Technical Education
dc.subjectImpact Evaluation
dc.subjectRegression Discontinuity Design
dc.subject.jelcodeI21 - Analysis of Education
dc.subject.jelcodeJ24 - Human Capital • Skills • Occupational Choice • Labor Productivity
dc.subject.keywordsEducation; technical education; high school; Latin America; Brazil
dc.typeWorking Papers
idb.identifier.pubnumberIDB-WP-01057
idb.operationRG-E1565
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