focus on works that have used rigorous empirical approaches and micro-data sets,<sup>14</sup> with special emphasis on methodologies that exploit treatment and control groups to solve the unobserved contrafactual problem. The vast majority of papers to date that evaluated policies of the extension of the school day have exploited quasi-experimental methodologies based on school-level data similar to what we exploit in this report.

Many papers to date have analyzed the relation between full-time schooling and cognitive outcomes,<sup>15</sup> but conclusions are mixed. Although most papers found positive effects of extending the school day on student scores, others found no impact of such educational policies.

De Cicca (2007) analyzed full-day kindergartens in the United States. The paper estimated the effect of full-time schooling on standardized test scores in mathematics and reading and found a positive impact on student achievement in both subjects. In the Netherlands, Meyer and Van Klaveren (2013) evaluated the impact of a full-time schooling program for children aged 8 to 12 years old and found no significant effects on student learning. The lack of results could, however, be linked to the small duration of the program (11 weeks), which may have been insufficient to produce the desired performance improvement.

For Latin America, results vary widely mainly depending on the country and on the full-time schooling program analyzed. Holland _,_ Alfaro, and Evans (2015) summarize the findings of evaluation studies of full-time schooling in Latin America. All studies available and reviewed here exploit quasi-experimental methods, either propensity score matching (Cerdan-Infantes and Vermeersch 2007; Llach, Adrogué, and Gigaglia 2009; Mendes 2011; Oliveira 2010) or a differences-in-differences approach (Arzola 2010; Bellei 2009; Pereira 2010). A smaller number of studies, like ours, combined both a differences-in-differences approach and a propensity score matching estimator (see De Aquino and Kassouf 2011; Marín 2006; Xerxenevsky 2012).

In Chile, for instance, most studies found positive impacts of the Chilean program of extension of the school day ( _Jornada Escolar Completa_ ) on student performance (Bellei 2009; Marín 2006; Valenzuela 2005).<sup>16</sup> Arzola (2010) is an exception.<sup>17</sup>

> 14 Some international studies on this topic are Baker _et al_ . (2004) and Lavy (2010). Both studies use crosscountry data to investigate the relation between instructional time and student performance. However, as mentioned before in our review, we will focus on studies that use microdata.

> 15 Some studies investigate effects on other socioeconomic outcomes such as crime rates, adolescent motherhood and labor market outcomes (see Berthelon and Kruger 2010; Contreras, Cabreara, and Sepúlveda 2010; Pires and Urzua 2011).

> 16 Pires and Urzua (2011) use a retrospective survey applied to individuals aged 25 to 30 to assess the impact of the Chilean full-time school program on learning outcomes. Their findings show that the extension of school day during high school increased student academic achievement, measured by tests taken during adulthood.

> 17 Although all studies exploit data from Education Quality Measurement System (SIMCE)Arzola (2010) analyzed a different time-period than the other two studies (focusing on the period 2005–9 instead of 2001–3). Llambí (2013) also evaluated the Chilean program of extension of the school day and found mixed results, depending on the econometric method used.

6