level. For example, Abdulkadiroglu et al. (2011) show that charter schools in Boston with binding lotteries generate larger gains in students’ standardized test scores. Khattri et al. (2013) show that the introduction of SBM has a positive impact on the school-level test scores in 23 school districts in the Philippines, and Hanushek et al. (2013) show with over one million student observations for 42 countries using the PISA standardized test that SBM reforms in well-developed institutions may be conducive to student achievement, while in low-performing institutions the opposite effect will occur.

Improving school performance, especially in poor communities, remains a challenge facing most countries. One policy being examined by many developing countries is SBM; Hong Kong SAR, China; Indonesia; Kenya; Kyrgyz Republic; Nepal; Paraguay; and Mexico are among the main countries implementing the program. To date, the empirical evidence on the effects of SBM interventions on student academic performance in developing countries is quite limited. Several studies rely on cross-sectional variation, ex-post propensity score matching and exclusion restrictions – either using functional forms or weak instrumental variables – thus leaving their ability to establish causality open to question (see, for example, the works of Jimenez and Sawada 1999, 2003 on El Salvador’s EDUCO; DiGropello and Marshall 2005 on the effects of the Honduras PROHECO program; King and Ozler 1998, King et al. 1999 and Parker 2005 on Nicaragua’s Autonomous School program; or López-Calva and Espinosa 2006 on the impacts of AGE as well as the other Compensatory Program supports on test scores). Notable quasiexperimental exceptions include Shapiro and Skoufias (2005) and Murnane et al. (2006) who use difference-in-differences models to estimate the impact of the PEC national intervention on drop out, repetition and failure rates. Gertler et al. (2008a) combine quantitative (difference-indifferences) and qualitative methods to examine the effects of an initiative that involves parents directly in the management of school grants transferred to the parent associations in schools in highly disadvantaged rural communities.

Duflo, Dupas and Kremer (2015) is one of the few studies that exploits a controlled randomized experiment to examine the impacts of SBM. The authors evaluate the effects of monetary empowerment of local school management committees to monitor and train teachers combined with contract teacher hiring in primary schools in Kenya. They show that combining class size reduction with improved incentives – by either hiring contract teachers (as opposed to civil servants) or increasing parental oversight – leads to significantly larger increases in test scores.

This analysis explores the impact of a school-based management program in Mexico, where the government attempts to empower the school community, and to promote school autonomy and accountability. This experiment is based on the federal education SBM program, which began in 2001. The final objective of this initiative is to encourage parents, teachers, and directors to design and carryout school strategies and transformation plans to respond to the needs of schools and their students. For this purpose, the SBM program awards selected schools with annual monetary grants and provides technical assistance to further improve the educational plans. All submitted school plans are evaluated and ranked by a technical committee. Only the higher quality proposals are eligible for SBM benefits.

This research evaluates these issues through the empirical study of the Quality School Program ( _Programa Escuelas de Calidad_ or PEC) in the Mexican state of Colima using a control 3