Heterogeneous effects of school autonomy in England

Lorenzo Neri; Elisabetta  Pasini

doi:10.1016/j.econedurev.2023.102366

Heterogeneous effects of school autonomy in England

Lorenzo Neri^*, Elisabetta Pasini

^*Corresponding author for this work

Institute of Behavioural and Neural Sciences

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

A 2010 education reform gave English schools the option to become academies, autonomous but state-funded schools. Academies can opt for two different models of governance by choosing to remain standalone schools or join an academy chain. We investigate the causal effect of the governance model on student achievement and school inputs. We find that students in academy chains have higher end-of-primary school test scores, with stronger effects for low achievers and early converter academies. School chains are more efficient than standalone academies, achieving better results while spending less overall. Survey data suggest that chains favor management changes, whereas standalone academies make changes related to educational practices.

Original language	English
Article number	102366
Number of pages	17
Journal	Economics of Education Review
Volume	94
Early online date	5 Mar 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econedurev.2023.102366
Publication status	Published - 1 Jun 2023

Keywords

Autonomous schools
School governance
School performance

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1016/j.econedurev.2023.102366Licence: CC BY

Neri_2023_EER_Heterogeneous-effects_CC
Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Final published version, 1.22 MBLicence: CC BY

1 Discussion paper

Heterogeneous effects of school autonomy in England
Neri, L. & Pasini, E., 11 Dec 2020, St Andrews: University of St Andrews, p. 1-40, 40 p. ( School of Economics and Finance Discussion Paper; no. 2003).
Research output: Working paper › Discussion paper

Open Access

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title = "Heterogeneous effects of school autonomy in England",

abstract = "A 2010 education reform gave English schools the option to become academies, autonomous but state-funded schools. Academies can opt for two different models of governance by choosing to remain standalone schools or join an academy chain. We investigate the causal effect of the governance model on student achievement and school inputs. We find that students in academy chains have higher end-of-primary school test scores, with stronger effects for low achievers and early converter academies. School chains are more efficient than standalone academies, achieving better results while spending less overall. Survey data suggest that chains favor management changes, whereas standalone academies make changes related to educational practices.",

keywords = "Autonomous schools, School governance, School performance",

author = "Lorenzo Neri and Elisabetta Pasini",

note = "Funding: This work was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council.",

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AU - Neri, Lorenzo

AU - Pasini, Elisabetta

N1 - Funding: This work was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council.

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Y1 - 2023/6/1

N2 - A 2010 education reform gave English schools the option to become academies, autonomous but state-funded schools. Academies can opt for two different models of governance by choosing to remain standalone schools or join an academy chain. We investigate the causal effect of the governance model on student achievement and school inputs. We find that students in academy chains have higher end-of-primary school test scores, with stronger effects for low achievers and early converter academies. School chains are more efficient than standalone academies, achieving better results while spending less overall. Survey data suggest that chains favor management changes, whereas standalone academies make changes related to educational practices.

AB - A 2010 education reform gave English schools the option to become academies, autonomous but state-funded schools. Academies can opt for two different models of governance by choosing to remain standalone schools or join an academy chain. We investigate the causal effect of the governance model on student achievement and school inputs. We find that students in academy chains have higher end-of-primary school test scores, with stronger effects for low achievers and early converter academies. School chains are more efficient than standalone academies, achieving better results while spending less overall. Survey data suggest that chains favor management changes, whereas standalone academies make changes related to educational practices.

KW - Autonomous schools

KW - School governance

KW - School performance

U2 - 10.1016/j.econedurev.2023.102366

DO - 10.1016/j.econedurev.2023.102366

M3 - Article

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VL - 94

JO - Economics of Education Review

JF - Economics of Education Review

M1 - 102366

ER -

Heterogeneous effects of school autonomy in England

Abstract

Keywords

UN SDGs

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Heterogeneous effects of school autonomy in England

Cite this