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Managerial Practices and Students' Performance

Author

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  • Di Liberto, Adriana

    (University of Cagliari)

  • Schivardi, Fabiano

    (LUISS Guido Carli University)

  • Sulis, Giovanni

    (University of Cagliari)

Abstract
We study the effects of managerial practices in schools on students' outcomes. We measure managerial practices using the World Management Survey, a methodology that enables us to construct robust measures of management quality comparable across countries. We find substantial heterogeneity in managerial practices across six industrialized countries, with more centralized systems (Italy and Germany) lagging behind the more autonomous ones (Canada, Sweden, the UK, the US). For Italy, we are able to match organizational practices at the school level with students' outcomes in a math standardized test. We find that managerial practices are positively related to students' outcomes. The estimates imply that if Italy had the same managerial practices as the UK (the best performer), it would close the gap in the math OECD-PISA test with respect to the OECD average. We argue that our results are robust to selection issues and show that they are confirmed by a set of IV estimates and by a large number of robustness checks. Overall, our results suggest that policies directed at improving students' cognitive achievements should take into account principals' selection and training in terms of managerial capabilities.

Suggested Citation

  • Di Liberto, Adriana & Schivardi, Fabiano & Sulis, Giovanni, 2014. "Managerial Practices and Students' Performance," IZA Discussion Papers 8475, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8475
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    Cited by:

    1. Leaver, Clare & Lemos, Renata & Scur, Daniela, 2019. "Measuring and explaining management in schools: new approaches using public data," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 103431, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    2. Alex Bryson & Lorenzo Corsini & Irene Martelli, 2022. "Teacher allocation and school performance in Italy," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 36(4), pages 409-423, December.
    3. Tommaso Agasisti & Patrizia Falzetti, 2017. "Between-classes sorting within schools and test scores: an empirical analysis of Italian junior secondary schools," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 64(1), pages 1-45, March.
    4. A. Di Liberto, 2013. "Length of stay in the host country and educational achievement of immigrant students: the Italian case," Working Paper CRENoS 201316, Centre for North South Economic Research, University of Cagliari and Sassari, Sardinia.
    5. Adriana Di Liberto & Fabiano Schivardi & Giovanni Sulis, 2015. "Managerial practices and student performance," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 30(84), pages 683-728.
    6. Lorenzo Neri & Elizabetta Pasini & Olmo Silva, 2024. "The organizational economics of school chains," CEP Discussion Papers dp1993, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    7. De Witte, Kristof & Schiltz, Fritz, 2018. "Measuring and explaining organizational effectiveness of school districts: Evidence from a robust and conditional Benefit-of-the-Doubt approach," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 267(3), pages 1172-1181.
    8. Tommaso Agasisti & Giuseppe Munda, 2017. "Efficiency of investment in compulsory education: An Overview of Methodological Approaches," JRC Research Reports JRC106681, Joint Research Centre.
    9. Tommaso Agasisti & Sergio Longobardi & Vincenzo Prete & Felice Russo, 2018. "Multidimensional poverty measures for analysing educational poverty in European countries," Working papers 73, Società Italiana di Economia Pubblica.
    10. Neri, Lorenzo & Pasini, Elisabetta & Silva, Olmo, 2022. "The Organizational Economics of School Chains," IZA Discussion Papers 15442, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Victor Lavy & Genia Rachkovski & Adi Boiko, 2023. "Effects and Mechanisms of CEO Quality in Public Education," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 133(655), pages 2738-2774.
    12. Imran Rasul & Daniel Rogger, 2018. "Management of Bureaucrats and Public Service Delivery: Evidence from the Nigerian Civil Service," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 128(608), pages 413-446, February.
    13. Di Liberto, Adriana & Giua, Ludovica & Schivardi, Fabiano & Sideri, Marco & Sulis, Giovanni, 2023. "Managerial Practices and Student Performance: Evidence from Changes in School Principals," IZA Discussion Papers 16203, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Tommaso Agasisti & Veronica Minaya, 2018. "Evaluating the Stability of School Performance Estimates for School Choice: Evidence for Italian Primary Schools," Working papers 67, Società Italiana di Economia Pubblica.
    15. Agasisti, Tommaso & Longobardi, Sergio & Prete, Vincenzo & Russo, Felice, 2021. "The relevance of educational poverty in Europe: Determinants and remedies," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 43(3), pages 692-709.
    16. Camanho, Ana S. & Varriale, Luisa & Barbosa, Flávia & Sobral, Thiago, 2021. "Performance assessment of upper secondary schools in Italian regions using a circular pseudo-Malmquist index," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 289(3), pages 1188-1208.
    17. Oana Borcan & James Merewood, 2022. "Positive Disruption? Meritocratic Principal Selection and Student Achievement," University of East Anglia School of Economics Working Paper Series 2022-11, School of Economics, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK..
    18. Masci, Chiara & De Witte, Kristof & Agasisti, Tommaso, 2018. "The influence of school size, principal characteristics and school management practices on educational performance: An efficiency analysis of Italian students attending middle schools," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 52-69.
    19. Tommaso Agasisti & Patrizia Falzetti & Mara Soncin, 2016. "Italian school principals’ managerial behaviors and students’ test scores: an empirical analysis," Working papers 43, Società Italiana di Economia Pubblica.
    20. Caterina Pavese & Enrico Rubolino, 2024. "Austerity Harmed Student Achievement," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 134(659), pages 1199-1227.
    21. Tommaso Agasisti & Ralph Hippe & Giuseppe Munda, 2017. "Efficiency of investment in compulsory education: empirical analyses in Europe," JRC Research Reports JRC106678, Joint Research Centre.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    management; productivity; school principals; cognitive skills;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L2 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior
    • I2 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education
    • M1 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration
    • O32 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D

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