The Role and Impact of Public-Private Partnerships in Education

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6 THE ROLE AND IMPACT OF PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS IN EDUCATION with higher academic achievement than publicly operated institutions. Therefore, partnerships in which the private sector is the operator and the public sector is the financier have the potential to increase enrollment while keeping the education budget in check. Also, although more rigorous evidence is needed, it is clear that PPPs, contracting, and subsidy arrangements can rapidly expand access to schooling and increase its quality, especially if coupled with rigorous quality assurance mechanisms and such interventions as teacher training and school improvement initiatives. In doing so, it particularly benefits marginalized groups and the poor who are ill served by traditionally delivered public services. Private school contracting programs and programs involving the private management of public schools can provide the poor with low-cost or free access to education. In fact, these contracting initiatives are usually aimed directly at the poor, including the schools run by Fe y Alegría, a Jesuit order that provides education in remote rural areas, under contract to the governments of several Latin American countries. Strategic use of the private sector has led to the rapid expansion of access to education in several countries. Senegal and Tanzania deregulated the secondary education sector at a relatively low cost and a positive correlation with enrollment. Colombia’s targeted voucher program provided places in private secondary schools for more than 100,000 students from poor families. Several rigorous evaluations have shown the program to be a success (Angrist et al. 2002; Angrist, Bettinger, and Kremer 2006). Voucher students were more likely to pass college entrance exams, had higher graduation rates, and scored better on standardized tests. The program cost less than public secondary schools on a per pupil basis. In Bangladesh, BRAC’s (Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee) Non-Formal Primary Education Program started in 1985 with 22 Delivered one-room by The schools. World Bank By e-library 2007, to: unknown it was serving more than IP : 192.86.100.35 1.5 million children in more than Mon, 20,000 30 Mar pre-primary 2009 12:16:23and 32,000 primary schools, which accounted for 11 percent of primary school children in Bangladesh. BRAC schools teach the same competencies as government schools, but they enroll and retain a higher proportion of hard-to-reach children, such as girls, who constitute 65 percent of students. There was a boom in the creation of private schools in Pakistan between 2000 and 2005, with 15,000 new private schools being set up. This increase happened to an equal extent in both urban and rural areas and reached both low- and high-income households (Andrabi et al. 2008). The enrollment rate in private schools of children from the poorest households in rural areas jumped from 0 percent to 6 percent. The private schools charge very low fees, less than 10 cents a day (Andrabi et al. 2006). In this way, private provision has increased enrollment in rural areas and among low-income households at a very low cost. These examples show that, when implemented correctly, PPPs can help countries to satisfy unmet demand for schooling. With regard to the effects of charter schools, some useful lessons have emerged from a small set of empirical studies. Based on evidence from Colombia and Venezuela, it is known that the private management of public schools has a positive impact on student test scores. However, we know less about precisely which characteristics of charter and concession schools (publicly funded, privately operated schools) make them perform better than public schools, other than perhaps fewer civil service constraints, more school autonomy, and the increased length of the school year. Nonetheless, it seems from existing evaluations that flexibility in the contract is an important factor in determining positive education outcomes. As for vouchers, they are associated with much controversy. In several countries, governments allow parents to send their children to the school of their choice, fund private and religious schools from the public budget, and allocate resources to schools based on enrollment. These types of programs deliver similar benefits to those offered in voucher programs. Some of these arrangements are over 100 years old (such as those in Denmark and the Netherlands) while others are more (c) The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank
Introduction 7 recent (such as those in Chile and Sweden). Colombia’s targeted voucher program has been subject to extensive analysis because of its randomized design. These evaluations have shown that the program is well targeted, effective, and efficient. The evidence from Chile’s voucher program is mixed and controversial. Some studies have found that it has had several positive outcomes, but other studies have challenged this, arguing that the original studies had problems of selection and a lack of adequate instruments. Furthermore, for many years following the voucher reform of 1981, overall education quality in Chile did not improve (Hsieh and Urquiola 2006). More recently, there have been some rapid increases in test scores and an ongoing revision of the school financing formula as an attempt to reduce equity concerns. Universal school choice (where all parents in a country can choose their children’s schools by means of a voucher) in Europe has led to a more competitive schools market. In most cases, this competition yields better outcomes overall, as would be predicted by theory. Nevertheless, there is much that we still need to learn about school choice and vouchers. Some of the evidence of the impact of public provision of private services on education outcomes, including measures of student achievement, is positive but is not enough to justify either ignoring PPPs or expanding them on a large scale. The few studies that have been carried out so far suggest that contracting out to the private sector can have several benefits, including greater efficiency, increased choice, and wider access to education, particularly for those households who have been poorly served by traditional methods of providing education. In general, private management of public schools tends to be efficient and yield higher test scores than public institutions when students reach the end of basic education. In addition, despite being controversial, vouchers can improve academic outcomes, especially for the poor. However, few of the existing empirical studies of PPPs can be considered to have yielded robust conclusions. There is a need to evaluate how PPPs work most effectively in different contexts, particularly where contracting models need to be improved or finetuned and in countries where partnerships are still nascent. While much is known about funding school choice, much less is known about which characteristics of charter and concession schools make them perform better than public schools. More research is also needed on universal versus targeted school choice and on private finance initiatives. These programs should be piloted and rigorously evaluated in different settings. Because of the pressing need to increase the evidence base in these areas, this study provides guidance on how to carry out better evaluations of a variety of aspects of public-private partnerships in education. Delivered by The World Bank e-library to: unknown IP : 192.86.100.35 Mon, 30 Mar 2009 12:16:23 (c) The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank
Page 1 and 2: The Role and Impact of Public-Priva
Page 7 and 8: Contents Foreword ix Acknowledgment
Page 9 and 10: Contents vii Boxes 1.1 Sources of c
Page 11 and 12: Foreword Education is widely believ
Page 13 and 14: Acknowledgments We acknowledge the
Page 15 and 16: Abbreviations AVEC BRAC BTL CARE ES
Page 17 and 18: Introduction Despite recent increas
Page 19 and 20: Introduction 3 schools (for example
Page 21: Introduction 5 PPPs may face resist
Page 25 and 26: Understanding Public-Private Partne
Page 31 and 32: International Experience While gove
Page 33 and 34: International Experience 17 Countri
Page 35 and 36: International Experience 19 BOX 2.1
Page 37 and 38: International Experience 21 of stud
Page 39 and 40: International Experience 23 of trad
Page 41 and 42: International Experience 25 to prov
Page 43 and 44: International Experience 27 allocat
Page 45 and 46: International Experience 29 student
Page 47 and 48: What Do We Know about Public-Privat
Page 49 and 50: What Do We Know About Public-Privat
Page 59 and 60: Designing a Conducive Environment f
Page 73 and 74:
Designing a Conducive Environment f
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Conclusions Despite recent increase
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Conclusions 61 for providing educat
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Conclusions 63 The United States ha
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Conclusions 65 limited data, and, t
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Conclusions 67 funding system shoul
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Conclusions 69 system is a persiste
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Public-Private Partnerships: Progra
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appendix BMethods for Evaluation of
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References Aedo, C. 1997. “Organi
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References 87 in Emerging Economies
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References 89 Discussion Paper 2003
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References 91 ———. 2003b. Par
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Index Boxes, figures, and tables ar
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Index 95 H Haiti, 18, 19b, 73 Heckm
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Index 97 schools. See also charter
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Delivered by The World Bank e-libra
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