Ranking Schools: A Step Toward Increased Accountability or a Mere Discriminatory Practice?

FEUNL Working Paper No. 567

17 Pages Posted: 6 Aug 2012

See all articles by Ana Balcão Reis

Ana Balcão Reis

Nova School of Business and Economics

Carmo Seabra

Nova School of Business and Economics, Universidade Nova de Lisboa

Luis C. Nunes

Nova School of Business and Economics

Date Written: August 6, 2012

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the discussion of the effects of published school rankings based on average scores obtained by students on national exams. We study the effectiveness of this (low-stakes) accountability mechanism; we analyze whether students react to these rankings, by moving in or out of high-schools according to their scores and examine the movements of closing of schools. Our results suggest that families react strongly to published rankings. We also look at the changes in the socio-economic background of students of poorly performing schools in order to evaluate whether the publication of rankings has increased inequality, as feared by many observers. According to our results, published rankings do in fact reinforce stratification by income.

Keywords: school accountability, school rankings

JEL Classification: I21, I28, H42

Suggested Citation

Reis, Ana Balcao and Seabra, Carmo and Nunes, Luis Catela, Ranking Schools: A Step Toward Increased Accountability or a Mere Discriminatory Practice? (August 6, 2012). FEUNL Working Paper No. 567, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2124926 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2124926

Ana Balcao Reis (Contact Author)

Nova School of Business and Economics ( email )

Campus de Carcavelos
Rua da Holanda, 1
Carcavelos, 2775-405
Portugal

Carmo Seabra

Nova School of Business and Economics, Universidade Nova de Lisboa ( email )

Campus de Carcavelos
Rua da Holanda, 1
Carcavelos, 2775-405
Portugal

Luis Catela Nunes

Nova School of Business and Economics ( email )

Nova SBE
Rua da Holanda, 1
Carcavelos, 2775-405
Portugal