Condições iniciais e desempenho escolar: análise do programa mãe coruja pernambucana

Abstract

The present study aimed to evaluate the possible effects produced by the Mãe Coruja Pernambucana Program (PMCP) on the affected children’s school performance. Data from the Pernambuco Educational Assessment System (SAEPE), referring to the average results of children present in the last year of elementary school, were used to compose the variable of interest, between 2008 and 2018. These data were analysed using the Synthetic Control Method (SCM). The results found in this study demonstrate that PMCP have promoted significant impact around the school performance of the treatment group, in both mathematics and portuguese tests. The magnitude of these results are also aligned with evidences founded in similar case studies in the literature. In the main estimates, impacts of about 6 points were found for the average proficiency in mathematics and almost 3.5 for the Portuguese tests. Nevertheless, these effects were driven, apparently, solely due impacts on children’s parental background, despite the prenatal effects.