# **4. Literature Review**

<mark>The literature that assesses the impact of full-time schools is not conclusive. It generally indicates positive results when it comes to educational outcomes, but differs on the magnitude and the statistical significance of this impact. While the results regarding pass and dropout rates as outcome variables are mostly positive, many studies find no significant effects for variables related to school performance measured by student test results. A meta-analysis of 19 studies in Latin America provided by Alfaro, Evans & Holland (2015) finds positive, but heterogeneous impacts in terms of magnitude across a range of outcome variables, including learning outcomes, adult labor force participation, and crime and teenage pregnancy reduction. In addition, the authors perform a cost-effectiveness exercise and conclude that even using the most optimistic impact estimates, there are several other more cost-effective reforms to achieve similar learning effects. Pires and Urza (2010) analyze a Chilean program that turned part-time into full-time schools. Using the methodology of difference-in-differences (DID) with propensity score matching, the authors found that full-time schools had positive and significant impact on academic outcomes (student performance in standardized test and dropout rates), as well as cognitive and socioemotional outcomes. They also find negative effects on teenage pregnancy and on the likelihood of being arrested before the age of 25. However, there are no significant impacts on students’ future employment and salaries.</mark> <mark>Bellei (2009) also analyzes the impact of the full-time program in Chile with the methodology of DID, finding a significant impact on the performance of students in Spanish language and Mathematics. In addition, the study finds evidence that the program has a greater effect on students of schools in rural areas, on students of public schools, and on students who are at the top of the performance distribution before the program implementation. Berthelon and Kruger (2011) explore the temporal and spatial heterogeneity in the implementation of the Chilean program to establish a causal relation between full-time schools and outcomes such as teen pregnancy and crime rates. The authors conclude that access to full-time schools reduces the likelihood of teenage pregnancy in poor urban areas, as well as crime rates in the young population.</mark> <mark>Analyzing data from Uruguay, Cerdan-Infantes and Vermeersch (2007) investigate the impact of a full-time school program in poor urban areas on the performance of 6</mark><sup>th</sup> <mark>graders. Using propensity score matching, the authors find a positive and significant impact of the program on standardized Portuguese and Mathematics tests. Garcia, Fernández, and Weiss (2013) investigate the impact of a full-time school program in Colombia between 2007 and 2008 on the likelihood of grade repetition and on the risk of dropping out of school before graduation. The authors restrict the analysis to families who had at least one child in a full-time school and another in a part-time school, and control the regression estimations for fixed effects on the family level. They find significant impact of the program on reducing student failure rate and dropout rate.</mark> <mark>However, the evidence of full-time schooling in Brazil is not so encouraging. Aquino and Kassouf (2011) analyze the impact of a program that implemented full-time public schools in the state of São Paulo, starting in 2006. Using the methodologies of propensity score matching, panel data analysis, and DID, the authors find that 9</mark><sup>th</sup> <mark>graders in full-time schools showed no significant differences in proficiency (using the state system of external evaluation, SARESP) and pass rates in comparison to those who attended traditional schools.</mark><sup>16</sup>

> 16 An important issue in the analysis is the fact that 24% of the full-time schools in 2007 went back to being part-time in 2008. In addition to making the definition of the treatment group ambiguous, the factors that led to this reversal are unclear – these factors may be correlated with outcome variables, which would distort the findings of the study.

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