school. We assess the average impact of the program on student learning (measured by _Prova Brasil_ ’s test scores) and on school dropout rates. We exploit administrative data sets on the program implementation and merge these with the Brazilian school census, comparing schools that voluntarily joined the program with schools that are reasonably similar in several observable characteristics but that did not join the program. To match treatment and control schools we exploit the propensity score matching methodology. We contrast the results before and after the program’s implementation across the two groups of schools, treatment and control schools, all of which are in urban areas of Brazil.

The results show that participation in _Mais Educação_ has, on average, no statistically significant impacts on school dropout rates and Portuguese test scores and produces average negative impacts on mathematics test scores in these schools. The negative effect on the mathematics learning assessment is stronger in the short term than in the medium term. In addition, the negative impacts are greater for schools that joined _Mais Educação_ early on, in 2008, than for schools that joined the program later (in 2010, after it had been implemented in 396 municipalities). Taken together this evidence suggests different implementation challenges of applying a new school model to students and teachers, likely influencing student studying and teaching habits, and eventually replacing home studies. All these factors probably have influenced the impacts of the program in the initial phase of the program. Thus, as the program consolidates over the years, impacts may improve and the negative effect on student learning achievement on mathematics may be reversed. The establishment of more assertive and structured guidelines to schools along with close program monitoring would likely improve the program’s implementation and effectiveness (Fundação Itaú Social and World Bank 2015).

We also find that the impact of _Mais Educação_ differs depending on some school and city characteristics related to program implementation. For the sample of schools with fifth grades, the impacts are different depending on the type of courses used to extend the school day, the average per student spending, or city per capita GDP. In particular, we find a negative impact of increasing the per student spending on average school dropout rates. We also find that schools choosing Portuguese activities for pedagogical support and/or sports have a larger negative effect on both Portuguese and mathematics test scores. Finally, the program tends to produce less negative impacts on mathematics test scores in wealthier cities (measured by cities with a higher GDP per capita). On the other hand, in wealthier cities _Mais Educação_ has a positive impact on dropout rates.

It is worth highlighting that our study assesses only the impacts of the program on educational outcomes. However, as described in Almeida et al (2015), the goals of _Mais Educação_ are broader, aiming to promote a more comprehensive/integral educational program. Other studies have evaluated the impacts of full-time school programs on socioeconomic outcomes, such as their impacts on teenage pregnancy or on crime. The evidence suggests that full-time schooling programs do tend to reduce crime rates and the probability of becoming an adolescent mother and to increase female labor force participation (see Berthelon and Kruger 2010; Contreras, Cabrera, and Sepúlveda 2010).

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