Causas de las diferencias en desempeño escolar entre los colegios públicos y privados: Colombia en las pruebas SABER11 2014

This paper identifies the causes that give rise to gaps in school performance between public and private schools in Colombia and five major cities. For this purpose, the information on tests SABER 11 of 2014 is used, and the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition is applied, combined with estimates of educational production function, based on the methodology proposed by Heckman, for correct selection bias. In the national context, significant differences were found in all areas assessed in these tests, in favor of private schools. Particularly in the area of English, the greatest divergence occurs. Private schools get, on average, 6.1 points more than the public. These gaps originate mainly by the endowment effect. Specifically, it must, first, by differences in school resources, followed by differences in socioeconomic and cultural status of the home, and finally, by differences in individual characteristics. Regarding the results for cities, it is determined that Cartagena is the city with greater educational inequality in the five skills assessed, and Medellin is the lowest. For Cali, performance gaps were in favor of public schools. These differences are caused, significantly, the observed part of the model, except in Cali, where gaps in favor of public schools in general are explained the net effect model (unobserved variables). Finally, in these cities, the difference in school resources remains the most significant in the private-public gaps followed by differences in individual and family characteristics factor.