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This report presents the case of the municipality of Sobral in the state of Ceara, Brazil. This municipality overcame adverse socioeconomic conditions and now has the best primary andlower secondary education system in Brazil. Sobral is home to 200,000 inhabitants and in 2005 was ranked 1,366 in the national index that measures quality of education in Brazil. Twelve years later, it was ranked first among the 5,570 municipalities in both primary and lower secondary education rankings. Public education in Sobral has one goal: every student must complete lower secondary education at the right age and with appropriate learning. The municipality placed education at the top of the political agenda and kept it out of politics. Its prioritized learning by establishing a clear intermediate target, ensuring all students are literate by the end of the second grade. It organized the education policy under four pillars: effective use of student assessment; focused curriculum with a clear learning sequence and prioritization of foundational skills; prepared and motivated teachers; and autonomous and accountable school management with school principals appointed through a meritocratic and technical selection process. The main aspects of the reforms are presented and discussed in this report.

Early Childhood Development --- Early Childhood Education --- Education --- Education For All --- Education Reform --- Literacy --- Primary Education --- Secondary Education

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This paper examines the full-time school program in Rio de Janeiro's municipal schools. The program, called as the "Single-Shift" schools (Turno Unico), extends the time students spend in municipal schools and seeks to improve the quality of education provision by creating a diverse curriculum for the use of the extra time in school. Unlike the model prevalent in most Brazilian public schools, in which the school day is divided in two shifts of four to five hours each, Single-Shift schools provide education in a format in which students attend a seven-hour daily shift. A subset of Single-Shift schools was certified when they included aspects such as having all teaching staff fully dedicated to a single school. Difference-in-differences estimates, including school and time fixed effects, as well as restrictive school-by-time controls, indicate sizable and robust positive results for the certified Single-Shift program in middle schools. The results indicate that just extending the school day does not grant positive impacts on student performance if it is not also coupled with a more comprehensive and careful consideration on how the additional school hours are used and organized, which requires a well-structured and integrated curriculum, teachers fully dedicated to one school, and focused teacher training.

Dropout Rates --- Extension Of The School Day --- Full-Time School --- Impact Evaluation --- Student Learning

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This report presents the case of the state of Ceara in Brazil that overcame adverse socioeconomic conditions to substantially improve education outcomes with efficient use of resources. Despite having the 5th lowest GDP per capita among the 26 Brazilian states, the 9-million-inhabitant state of Ceara has experienced the largest increase in the national education quality index in both primary and lower secondary education since 2005, with 10 municipalities of Ceara being among the top 20 national ranking, including Sobral which has the highest score. The state of Ceara pioneered the use of results-based financing as part of a comprehensive education reform program that among other elements included strong support to its municipalities to achieve universal literacy by the end of grade 2. The reforms allowed the state to considerably improve learning levels of students in primary and lower secondary education with a high level of efficiency in the use of resources. The main aspects of the reforms are presented and discussed.

Education --- Education Finance --- Education for All --- Education Reform --- Secondary Education