About the presentation
Over the past decade, average student achievement in Brazil has increased substantially, raising questions about whether these gains were equitably distributed across social and racial groups. Using municipality-level data from the national standardized assessments Prova Brasil, this project examines the evolution of achievement gains in Math and Language between 2007 and 2017 for both 5th and 9th grades, with a focus on changes in achievement gaps by socioeconomic status and race. While overall performance improved, we document heterogeneity across municipalities and show that achievement gains were equally distributed. These patterns concentrate primarily in earlier grades. In particular, changes in the racial composition of students are negatively correlated with average achievement gains, a pattern driven by slower gains among White students in municipalities with larger increases in the share of Black students. This relationship persists after controlling for enrollment shifts, teacher characteristics, and municipal inputs. Overall, the results suggest that achievement gains alone do not guarantee equity. Municipal and state contexts are central, with decomposition analyses showing that state-level factors contribute to widening achievement gaps.
About Gabriel
Gabriel Marcondes Koraicho is a Ph.D. candidate in the Economics of Education program at Stanford GSE. He holds an MSc in Economics from Fundação Getúlio Vargas - Escola de Economia de São Paulo (FGV-EESP) and a BA in Economics from Universidade de São Paulo (USP). His research focuses on understanding the main barriers students from public high schools in Brazil face during their transition from basic to higher education and the mechanisms that influence it. Gabriel is interested in quantitative methods to evaluate public policies, focusing on education, inequality, and higher education.
Click the link below to watch the presentation
Week 1 - Discussants: Gabriel Koraicho
