outcomes—even within the same school (Bruns and Luque, 2014). Evidence from Guatemala and Peru presented in Marshal and Sorto (2012) shows the importance of teachers’ content mastery: teachers who perform better on math tests have students who also perform better in that same subject. Using data for Mexico, De Hoyos, Espino, and García (2012) show that the proportions of teachers with a post-graduate degree and school directors assigned via a meritocratic process are both positively associated with higher test scores in math.

There is evidence from Argentina that also points to the importance of teachers within a context of school autonomy. Santos (2007) finds that giving teachers a higher degree of autonomy on decisions of budget allocation within schools, selection of textbooks, establishment of disciplinary policies, and involvement in student assessment policies is associated with better student test scores. According to Santos (2007), students performed better in schools where teachers had high expectations and where principals felt that there was a strong relationship between students and teachers. In contrast, Abdul-Hamid (2007) finds that teacher certification did not show a significant positive impact on learning outcomes. Finally, Fresoli et al. (2007) find that, among teachers’ years of education, their years of experience, and their amount of in-service training, only the number of years of education was significantly correlated with student learning (using data from LLECE). ONE data, meanwhile, shows a correlation between years of education as well as years of service (though only statistically significant in mathematics, not Spanish).

# _2.2 Institutional Setting_

There are a number of elements related to institutional settings that could influence student performance: pupil-teacher ratios, length of the school day, degree of school autonomy, and involvement of parents, to name a few. These institutional factors represent about one-quarter of the between-country variations in performance on PISA 2000, and account for a large portion of students’ success (Fuchs and Wößmann, 2004, and Fertig and Schmidt, 2002). Fuchs and Wößmann (2004) find that students in systems that have external examinations or standardized tests perform better across all three subjects examined in PISA. Student performance seems to be higher when schools have more autonomy over decisions such as the hiring of teachers, textbook choice, and budget allocations within schools. The combination of these two elements is even more powerful: the performance effects of school autonomy are more beneficial in systems where external exit exams are in place, underscoring the idea that external exams are the “currency” of the school system (Fuchs and Wößmann, 2004). However, some of these findings seem to differ depending on a country’s level of development. While developed countries are able to translate increased autonomy into improved student learning, increased autonomy seems to harm student achievement in developing countries (Hanushek, Link, and Wößmann, 2013).

Among other institutional reforms in developing countries, pupil-teacher ratios (or class size in general) have been most widely studied, with very mixed findings (Hanushek, 2003, and Kruger, 2003). Teacher absenteeism and whether teachers assign homework are strong predictors of student success (Pelletier and Normore, 2007). Providing school meals is inconclusive, as is multi-grade teaching, while extending the school day shows more positive results (Glewwe et al., 2013).

Evidence suggests that longer school days do improve learning in Uruguay and Chile (Cerdan-Infantes and Vermeersch, 2007, and Bellei, 2009). There is some evidence that school autonomy in the form of school-based management (SBM) has resulted in gains in enrollment, reduced repetition and dropout, and raised parental participation (Gertler, Patrinos, and Rubio, 5