Using the recent PISA for Development (2017) learning survey, we offer new evidence on whether there is a private–public schools efficiency gap in Latin America and the role of distinct barriers and inequality on efficiency. We obtain school efficiency scores using Data Envelopment Analysis from 705 schools in four countries – Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras and Paraguay. We find that the private schools efficiency is 0.88 whereas it is lower for public schools (at 0.82). Thus, there is a positive efficiency gap for private schools, with the lower efficiency in public schools may be explained by the additional obstacles they face (such as higher prevalence of student work). However, there is a greater scope in public schools of boosting efficiency by decreasing inequality and the provision of remedial classes. Whole sample results seem to be driven by two countries: Ecuador and Paraguay.

利用最近的PISA for Development（2017）学习调查，我们提供了新的证据，证明拉丁美洲是否存在私立和公立学校的效率差距，以及在效率方面存在明显障碍和不平等的作用。我们使用数据包络分析从四个国家（厄瓜多尔，危地马拉，洪都拉斯和巴拉圭）的705所学校获得了学校效率得分。我们发现，私立学校的效率为0.88，而公立学校则较低（为0.82）。因此，私立学校在效率上存在一个积极的差距，而公立学校的效率低下可能是由它们面临的其他障碍（例如学生工作的普遍性较高）来解释的。但是，在公立学校中，通过减少不平等现象和提供补习班来提高效率的范围更大。