Importance of effective instructional time in academic achievement: Results of a mixed approach in Colombia

Abstract

Instrumental variables were implemented to estimate the consequences of effective instructional time on the performance of Colombian students in the Saber 11 examination. When increasing in a standard deviation, the effective instruction time increments the scores by 0.43 and 0.16 in Math and Language components of this test, respectively. A qualitative approach in the Atlantico department suggests that factors such as classroom ventilation, temperature, discipline, trips to school, activities different to classes, and interruptions from parents are which most affect the development of academic activities.