School Social Context Differences and Reform : Evidence from Means-Tested Voucher Reform Effects on Achievement Inequality in Chile

Our study investigates the social conditions in which the Preferential School Subsidy (SEP) reform implemented in Chile in 2008 has influenced students' achievement in 4th grade. SEP reform has been widely evaluated. However, it is less known how the social conditions under which a reform can be (in)effective impact on achievement inequalities. We assess to what extent differences in social composition between and within schools over time influence the effectiveness of SEP reform effects on students' achievement. We use longitudinal census data on the mathematics achievement from the national assessment in Chile for eight 4th grade cohort that attended voucher schools between 2005 and 2012. Using difference-in-difference designs within a multilevel framework we've found that reform decrease achievement gaps at student level, among schools the experienced changes in social composition of their student body of schools over time, and between schools that serve a socioeconomic differentiated student population. We do not find that the impact of impact SEP reform on changes in social composition within schools has equalizing effects among students. However, between school social differences counterbalance the equalizing effect of the reform, increasing inequalities among students. We discuss the implications of the effects of SEP as compensatory reform on social inequalities among students and schools, and its limits due differences in the instructional regime within schools and the acute levels of social segregation between schools