Seminario 15/11: J. Sánchez-Campillo (U. Granada) – ¿En los centros privados se inflan las calificaciones de los estudiantes?

Información

Abstract

Over ninety percent of the students taking the Spanish university admissions test (PAU) in recent years have passed on their first try. However, many public university degree programmes require high grades of their applicants. This requirement was reinforced in 2010 with the approval of the new PAU, which introduced a set of voluntary tests, thus contributing to a substantial rise in the grades needed for admission in many programmes, especially those with the best career prospects. Secondary school grade averages are still quite important in final PAU grades, and there is widespread belief that many private schools tend to inflate their grades to improve their students’ chances. Using microdata on the average secondary school grades and PAU scores of 22,455 students who passed the PAU in Andalusia in June 2010, this study tests the hypothesis of private school grade inflation, which questions the fairness of the Spanish admissions system. Using nonparametric tests, and distinguishing by gender and school type, analyses were run to determine if the difference between school grades and PAU grades is significantly higher in private schools than in public schools. The results, which are sensitive to the methodology used, show that in both private and public schools grades are inflated in comparison to PAU grades, but the results contradict the hypothesis that private schools practice more grade inflation than public schools.