Evaluating the impact of the selection process of principal in Brazilian public schools

Abstract Educational quality in Brazil has improved at a slow pace despite continued public policy efforts. The international literature has noted the importance of school management and the principal’s profile on students’ performance, but this discussion is recent in Brazil. In this study, we investigate the effects of the selection process of principals on students’ performance from public state schools in Brazil. We conclude that while the “selection process” channel is not clear, the “principal quality effect” indicates that the more democratic and technical selection methods tend to select most qualified principals in terms of leadership and managerial abilities. The principal who has time to implement changes, who adopts management practices to encourage teachers and has experience being the leader of the school present better results in terms of student’s performance. Therefore, it is important that the principal selection process choose professionals with the skills mentioned.

尽管巴西持续推进公共政策举措，但其教育质量的提升仍较为缓慢。国际学界早已指出学校管理与校长特质对学生学业表现的重要性，但此类讨论在巴西尚属近年新兴议题。本研究针对巴西公立州立学校的校长选拔流程对学生学业表现的影响展开探究。研究结果表明，尽管"选拔流程"这一传导路径尚未清晰，但"校长质量效应"显示，采用更具民主性与技术性的选拔方法，往往能遴选出在领导力与管理能力方面更为出众的校长。那些拥有充足时间推进改革、采取激励教师的管理举措且具备学校领导经验的校长，其所在学校的学生学业表现更为优异。因此，校长选拔流程应注重遴选具备上述能力的专业人才。