Selection of school principals based on competitive processes: evidence from one policy in Chile

Abstract

Public education in Chile has lost relevance over the past years, manifested in a drastic drop in enrollment. Education policy has developed an assortment of tools to revert this situation, where evidence shows that the school principal factor may be fundamental in obtaining better results. In 2011, a new law was approved that stipulates that the school principal must be selected for merit and through competitive processes following selection criteria established for public leadership and management positions. The objective of this work is to explore the possible impacts of this policy. Using public data at the school level, diverse models of Difference in Differences (DID) are proposed to estimate the impact in several indicators. Results show positive effects on the Simce math test between 2.1 and 4.2 points in a six-year period; that the treatment has positive impact over time; no effects are found on the language test; nor on different non-cognitive indicators; finally, no changes are observed in educational management indicators such as average attendance or teacher mobility. Results are partially in line with the literature, which leads to the assumption that, after more than five years from the approval of this law, there is space for improvement in the policy.