Do private schools in Argentina perform better because they are private?

Abstract

The objective of this study is to analyse the determinants of the quality of education in Argentina and, in particular, to look at what influence a school´s ownership structure has. A multilevel regression model and 2006 data from the Programme for International Student Assessment(PISA) were used for this porpose. One of main findings is that the correlation between a school´s administrative structure (public or private) and its students´scholastic performance fades when the socioeconomic school environment is taken into consideration.