School Autonomy and Pupils' Performance: Academy Conversion in English Primary Schools

Sabrina Auci, Manuela Coromaldi and Gianni De Fraja

No 19106, CEPR Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Policy Research

Abstract: This paper examines the effect of the change in the governance regime of English primary schools on their pupils' education attainment. From 2010, primary schools could apply to convert to "academy" status, thereby increasing their managerial autonomy. More than one third of them have done so up to now. We examine whether conversion had an effect on their pupils' performance. We use a Mundlak approach and instrument the conversion decision with the attitude towards conversion of the stakeholders in the school's administrative authority to account for the potential endogeneity of the conversion to academy status. We find that conversion had at most limited effects on the pupils' attainment in the short term, and in addition that this improved achievement is weaker or absent in schools with disadvantaged pupils, and it fades away as time passes.

Keywords: Academy; Educational attainment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H42 I20 I28 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024-05
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Journal Article: School autonomy and pupils’ performance: Academy conversion in English primary schools (2025)
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