Principals' tenure and students' performance: a comparison between school managers in the USA and in Brazil

• Grant number: 14/08895-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: September 01, 2014
• End date: January 31, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Economics - Social Welfare Economics
• Principal Investigator: Elaine Toldo Pazello
• Grantee: Jéssica Gagete Miranda
• Supervisor: Marcos A. Rangel
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Economia, Administração e Contabilidade de Ribeirão Preto (FEARP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Duke University, United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 13/20768-0 - Principals turnover and School Achievement, BP.MS

Abstract

Despite some recent progress on our understanding of the importance of school principals for students' learning experience in public schools, there is still much to explore. The present study aims at filling this gap by focusing on the impact of a principal's tenure over the achievement of students and by considering the acquisition of both general and school-specific managerial experience by the former. A comparative analysis using data from two very distinct school systems are used - one from the state of São Paulo, Brazil, and another from North Carolina, U.S.A.. Value-added models are estimated exploring the rich longitudinal information on students and principals, enriching the analysis by allowing controls for time invariant unobserved characteristics. (AU)