Maria-Paz Fernandez

Possible Improvements to the Chilean Public Education System

The Case of the Metropolitan Region

Chile

• Population:– 17.2 million

• Government:– Democratic Republic– Central government

• GDP Per Capita of $17,200 (US $49,000)

• Ranked 15/136 countries with most unequal family income distribution (US is 42)

Chile

• Metropolitan region:– 52 communes– Population: 6.2

million– 1,274 public schools– 29% of students

attend public schools

• Administrative division:

Regions Communes

Chilean Educational System• Three types of schools

– Public– Subsidized– Private

• Three standardized tests to measure quality– Example of PSU

• Differences between types of schools

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

Average Score by Type of School

PublicSubsidizedPrivate

Aver

age

Scor

e

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Percentage of Students Who Scored Above 450 points

PublicSubsidizedPrivate

Source: DEMRESource: DEMRE

Protests Against the Education System

• Consequences of current educational system– Differences between types

of schools– Differences in access to

high quality education determined by income

– Access to University

• Many argue that the solution is to give more funds to public schools

Source: La Tercera

Source: The Clinic

Will an increase in spending help improve the quality of Chilean public

education?

Type of School and Income

Source: CASEN Source: Sinim

Spending and Quality of Education

Source: Sinim

Students Per School and Spending Per Student

Spending and Quality of Education

Sources: Sinim, DEMRE

Spending Per Student and Academic Achievement

Spending and Quality of Education

Sources: Sinim, DEMRE, MineducSources: Sinim, DEMRE

Spending Per Student and Academic Achievement

Preliminary Findings

• The quality of education in Chilean public schools is inferior to private schools.

• The quality of education in public schools affects especially students with lower incomes.

• A higher amount spent per student appears not to be related to a better quality of education.

• For final, work on other variables that can affect the quality of public education (socioeconomic, demographic, etc.).

Skills Used

• Geoprocessing (clipping)• Inset maps• Graduated symbols• Aggregate attribute fields• New indices created• Boundary sub-sets selection

Sources

• ESRI, www.esri.com• La Tercera, www.latercera.com• Ministry of Education Chile (Mineduc), www.mineduc.gob.cl• Integrated System of Territorial Information (SIIT), Library of

Congress Chile, siit.bcn.cl• National Statistics Institute Chile (INE), www.ine.cl• National System of Municipal Information Chile (Sinim),

www.sinim.cl/indicadores/busq_serie_var.php• The Clinic, www.theclinic.cl• University of Chile, Department of Education Evaluation,

Measurement and Registry (DEMRE), www.demre.cl/estadisticas.htm

• World Bank, Data Catalog, data.worldbank.org