A Local Regulatory Strategy for Basic Education in Rio de Janeiro

Abstract: This paper explores data about the performance of municipal schools in Rio de Janeiro during the first years of basic education to show that the regulatory instruments currently employed by the federal government must be complemented by a strategy that focus on local factors. Using data about the geographical location of Rio de Janeiro municipal schools and their performance at IDEB, we were able to pick out neighboring schools that achieved diametrically opposed results, despite serving students with comparable socioeconomic status. This reality suggests that bottom-up regulatory instruments might be employed efficiently. There is, however, a normative gap in that regard, with a strong prevalence of top-down public policies currently in place.