Jornadas escolares ampliadas e proficiência média dos alunos: uma análise para a região centro-oeste a partir dos dados da Prova Brasil

Abstract

The aim of this study is to analyze the effects of the expansion of the school day on academic achievement of students of region Midwest of Brazil from the data of Prova Brasil. The intention is to evaluate the program Mais Educação, federal program to expand the school day, focusing on its impact on the average proficiency of portuguese language schools and mathematics . To do so, we performed a comparative descriptive analysis between traditional schools and schools that work full time, using data from the Prova Brasil of the years 2007 and 2011, as well as an analysis of the impact of the program from the econometric technique "difference in differences". The results revealed that, for the data analyzed, the students of full-time schools showed no significant differences in outcome in terms of proficiency, compared with those who attended traditional schools. An acceptable explanation for the occurrence of discrete outcomes of the program would be in the short period of analysis, in other words, they are short-term effects. The scarcity of studies on the topic proposed research gives the opportunity to bring important to expand this debate results. It is noteworthy that, in terms of public policy, can be relatively simple to adopt extended school hours, provided that resources are available.