Refuerzo escolar para niños pobres: ¿Funciona?

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of the school reinforcement program that "Un Techo Para Chile" offers to the poorest communities in the Metropolitan Region, in Chile. The data were taken from a survey specially designed by the authors. The effects of the program on low-income students attending elementary education show an increase in mathematics and language grades during the academic period 2004-2003. The impact of the program is estimated using parametric methods. The robustness of the results is analyzed with non-parametric estimations and using different control groups. The main results indicate that the program has a positive impact on student's grades. In addition, the grades obtained in 2003 did not determine student's participation in the program during 2004.