The Role and Impact of Public-Private Partnerships in Education

What Do We Know about
Public-Private Partnerships
in Education?
In chapters 1 and 2, we have shown that
public-private partnerships in the provision
of education are growing rapidly in several
countries. Unfortunately, there are still
few empirical evaluations of these experiences.
This chapter presents the results of
the rigorous empirical studies of these partnerships
and discusses their strengths and
weaknesses.
We selected which studies to examine
based on how they overcame the problem
of self-selection—by students, families,
or schools—in most PPP programs. Selfselected
beneficiaries may have different
characteristics than those who do not apply
to or do not benefit from the program. Consequently,
simply comparing an outcome
(for instance, dropout rates or test scores)
between beneficiaries and nonbeneficiaries
will not accurately reflect the impact of the
program because any observed difference
between these two groups may be driven
not only by the program itself but also by
the initial differences in the observable and
unobservable characteristics of the two
groups.
Evaluations of voucher programs, one
common type of PPP, have to deal with
the problem of endogeneity. Voucher programs
usually require students to apply, but
the students who apply are likely to be better
informed or more motivated than their
peers. Comparing, for instance, school
enrollment rates of recipients and nonrecipients
may not accurately reflect the
impact of the program because differences
in enrollment rates may be due to these
inherent differences in characteristics and
not due to the actual efficacy of the program
(Nechyba 2000; Epple and Romano
1998).
Based on chapter 2’s definition of PPPs
and four different types of contracts—
vouchers, subsidies, the private management
of schools, and private finance
initiatives—in this chapter we discuss PPP
programs in the light of four main objectives—access,
quality, cost, and inequality.
The ways in which the different types
of PPPs can affect education outcomes are
briefly discussed. As the definitions of the
four types of contracts show, PPPs are complex
interventions, and their effects can be
numerous and difficult to measure.
The definition and objectives
of public-private partnerships
PPPs can be defined as a contract that a
government makes with a private service
provider to acquire a specified service of a
defined quantity and quality at an agreed
price for a specified period (Taylor 2003).
This definition covers several different
types of contracts, which may procure
different services and vary in complexity.
The services include education services
(management, maintenance, and support
services like transportation); operation services,
such as pure management; and infrastructure
(in what is often referred to as a
private finance initiative) (LaRocque and
Patrinos 2006). This review of the empirical
literature focuses on three types of education
services and operations—vouchers,
subsidies, and the private management of
schools—and private finance initiatives for
school construction.
Education operations contracts are
generally unknown complex. The delivery of education
IP can : 192.86.100.35 be measured as the number of
Mon, 30 Mar 2009 12:16:23
students enrolled in any given school, but
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