The role of teachers and the learning environment in academic achievement of Costa Rican students: An analysis from PISA

Abstract

Although literature has emphasized that the teachers’ quality and the school environment are key factors of the academic performance, few empirical studies have quantified how much they contribute to student performance in Latin American countries. In this article, we use PISA-Costa Rica microdata and Shapley-Shorrocks decomposition to analyze how much of the variation in student performance can be explained by the teachers’ characteristics and the learning environment. We find that most of the differences in performance are due to student’s effort (not explained part of the model in the educational production function). Regarding the other explanatory factors, school and teacher characteristics explain more variability of academic performance (36% on average for math, reading and science) than the combined effect of individual and family circumstances (12.5%).

Among the school’s factors, two elements have special relevance. On the one hand, the behavior of the students, highlighting the problems of absenteeism and tardiness. On the other hand, the level of autonomy of the teaching staff and the school’s principal in the design of the curriculum and the evaluations.