Are Public Libraries Improving Quality of Education?

This paper analyzes the relation between public, education-related infrastructure and the quality of education in schools. The analysis uses a case study of the establishment of two large, high-quality public libraries in low-income areas in Bogotá, Colombia. It assesses the impact of these libraries on the quality of education by comparing national test scores (SABER 11) for schools close to and far from the libraries before (2000–02) and after (2003–08) the libraries were opened. The paper introduces a Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition on difference-in-differences estimates to assess whether variation of traditional determinants of mathematics, verbal, and science test scores explains the estimates. The analysis finds differences that are not statistically different from zero that could be attributed to the establishment of the libraries. These results are robust to alternative specifications, a synthetic control approach, and an alternative measure of distance.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Rodriguez Lesmes, Paul, Trujillo, Jose Daniel, Valderrama, Daniel
Format:	Working Paper biblioteca
Language:	English en_US
Published:	Washington, DC 2015-09
Subjects:	SKILLS, EVALUATION OF EDUCATION, TEACHING FORCE, PUBLIC PRIMARY SCHOOLS, EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH, COLLEGE, MALE STUDENTS, ITS, TEACHERS, EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES, SCHOOL LIBRARY SERVICES, NUMBER OF SCHOOLS, STUDENT-TEACHER RATIO, TUITION, MALE STUDENT, SCHOOL DAY, EDUCATION OUTCOMES, PUPIL RATIO, HIGHER EDUCATION, SUBJECT AREAS, HIGH ACHIEVEMENT, PAPERS, LEARNING MATERIALS, EDUCATION QUALITY, ADULTS, OPEN ACCESS, EDUCATIONAL POLICY, LITERACY, TEXTBOOKS, TEACHER-PUPIL RATIO, KNOWLEDGE, EDUCATIONAL PERFORMANCE, CRITICAL THINKING, SCHOOL CALENDARS, LEARNING MATERIAL, QUALITY OF EDUCATION, TRAINING, PUPIL-TEACHER RATIO, TESTS, PRIVATE SCHOOLS, GRADUATE, ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, ECONOMICS OF EDUCATION, EDUCATIONAL ENVIRONMENT, SCHOOL PROGRAMS, PEDAGOGY, LET, STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT, EDUCATIONAL INPUTS, LEARNING, EDUCATION SYSTEM, RESEARCH, SCHOOL QUALITY, JOB TRAINING, TEACHING, TEST SCORES, SCHOOL LEVEL, TESTING, GRADUATE STUDIES, ACCESS TO INFORMATION, LIBRARIES, PRIMARY SCHOOLS, READING, SCHOOL SIZE, HUMAN CAPITAL, SPORTS, DROPOUT RATES, STUDY, COMPUTERS IN SCHOOLS, ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE, STUDIES, TEACHER EDUCATION, LIBRAR, SCIENCE, TUITION FEES, SOFTWARE, VALUES, STUDENT, SCHOOLS, SCHOOL LIBRARY, STUDENT PERFORMANCE, MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, ACHIEVEMENT, EDUCATION LEVEL, LITERATURE, EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS, EDUCATIONAL SERVICES, SCHOOL COUNCILS, WORKSHOPS, SCHOOL LIBRARIES, PHYSICAL INFRASTRUCTURE, QUALITY OF LIFE, TEACHER, EDUCATIONAL OUTCOMES, CALL, FEMALE STUDENTS, COLLEGE STUDENTS, TEACHER RATIO, LEVEL OF EDUCATION, QUALITY EDUCATION, COMPUTERS IN EDUCATION, EDUCATION, SCHOOL PERFORMANCE, STATISTICS, PRIVATE INSTITUTIONS, HUMAN RESOURCES, TYPES OF EDUCATION, FACILITIES, PUBLIC SCHOOL, PUBLIC SCHOOLS, STUDENTS, LIVING CONDITIONS, PRIMARY LEVEL, SCHOOL EDUCATION, TEACHER-STUDENT RATIO, NUMBER OF STUDENTS, FEES, PRIMARY EDUCATION, TEACHER QUALITY, FREE TEXTBOOKS, LABOR MARKETS, CLASSROOMS, SCHOOL, EDUCATION DATA, SCHOOL INFRASTRUCTURE, SECONDARY EDUCATION, GRADUATE STUDENTS, STUDENT LEARNING, ACADEMIC YEAR, UNIVERSITIES, ACADEMIC RESULTS,
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2015/09/25103257/public-libraries-improving-quality-education-provision-public-goods-not-enough https://hdl.handle.net/10986/22852
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