How much do companies know what contributes to education?

Abstract

In this research we evaluate the impact that various types of private contributions to public schools can have on their performance. We start from the assumption that greater involvement in the social role of business is key to accelerating the achievement of development goals. Although there is abundant literature that measures different types of effects from private aid to education at an individual level, this study provides an aggregate measure of the effect of simultaneous interventions. We use a benchmarking approach on a sample of 269,117 Colombian students from 1,224 schools, of which 53% received some assistance. The findings may help to stimulate companies to participate in solving the problems of development, while calling attention to some social criteria that can improve the allocative efficiency of such resources. The results suggest that a consistent process of accountability is also required to quantify the real impact of these contributions.