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This paper exploits the sharp escalation of violence in Colombia in the 1980s associated with the emergence of drug cartels to provide novel evidence on the long-run effects of violence exposure throughout the life-course, on children's educational attainment and academic achievement using administrative data. I find that, a higher homicide rate in early-childhood is associated with a higher probability of school dropout and conditional on completing high school, lower scores on a national end-of-high school exam. Results are robust to several falsification tests, and analyses of potential sources of selection bias. I provide supportive evidence that changes in fetal, child, and adolescent health outcomes are important potential mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the effect of transfers from the General Participations System (SGP) on Colombian municipal development indicators during 2003-2017. A Municipal Development Index is proposed, considering indicators of educational achievement, health coverage, and crime rates. This index is studied in the municipal context using spatial autocorrelation techniques. A panel-type econometric model was estimated to evaluate the effect of transfers on the index. The results suggest that increases in education, health, culture, and recreation transfers generate positive, differential effects on the index. Transfers to the health sector have the most significant impact on the index. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic has demanded the adoption of extraordinary measures of quarantine and social distancing, impacting educational institutions worldwide. Schools and campuses - which used to be spaces for social exchange - had to cease face-toface instruction and shift to remote learning with no prior planning or training, which posed several challenges to education systems around the globe. In Latin America - responsible, today, for over half of the planet's daily COVID-19-related deaths - this scenario is even more dramatic. The diverse socioeconomic levels of the student population is a major challenge for online teaching, as institutions cannot provide computer training, equipment and connectivity to all those in need. In spite of all challenges, universities which are part of AUSJAL (Association of Universities Entrusted to the Society of Jesus in Latin America) are making every effort to offer online classes during this pandemic, since education plays a pivotal role in these countries. This paper presents a selection of Design educational experiences conducted in AUSJAL universities during this pandemic. Design educators from Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Nicaragua present educational methods and strategies for dealing with this critical situation. In conclusion, we discuss how their innovative and engaging teaching ideas are paving the way towards not simply a new, but a "better normal" in Latin America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the main results of a Master's in Geography thesis written in the University of Chile, titled Residential Segregation and Inequality in the Access to Collective Education, Culture, and Recreation Services in Bogotá-Colombia. It carries out a critical discussion of the factors that influence the socio-spatial segregation of the population and their effects on accessibility to urban services faculties. On the basis of a territorial and statistical analysis, it shows how the characteristics of Bogotá's urban model have led to a strong correlation between spatial patterns of high socioeconomic segregation and low quality of life. This segregation reinforces the low-income population's negative conditions, deriving from unequal access to collective services, mainly education, culture, and recreation, which are spaces theoretically recognized due to the production of social capital and, therefore, of social integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research has shown that people with higher cognitive skills (mental abilities) and socioemotional skills (behaviors and personality) get better labor market outcomes. It is unclear, however, if this conclusion applies to low- and middle-income countries, given that existing literature builds on studies that are dominantly about high-income countries. In this paper, we explore how cognitive and socioemotional skills of adults, ages 15-64, relate to their labor market outcomes in the context of Colombia. Controlling for a range of cofounding factors in a cross-sectional survey, we find that adults with higher skills also have better outcomes, while cognitive and socioemotional skills correlate with different ones, seemingly through different channels. Adults with higher cognitive skills have better jobs (with higher earnings, more formal, and high-skilled) and are more likely to complete tertiary education. Socioemotional skills correlate more modestly with having a better job but more strongly with labor market participation and tertiary-education completion. Results suggest that adults with both cognitive and socioemotional skills tend to do better in the labor market and that policies boosting the development of both types may be beneficial in Colombia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the externalities generated by the implementation of the instrumental policy of school breakfasts in Santiago de Cali. It starts by a historical analysis of the educational sector in Colombia, pointing out its pros and cons, which are given by the lack of coordination of the resources allocated and the policies. Also, a reflection about the meaning of public policies’ coordination and institutional change, which are integrated by the transferences of policies implemented through legal instruments, is proposed through the examination of public policy and public management. In this regard, the State has played a relevant role regarding the obligations in the educative sector: disponibility, access, quality, and permanence. Finally, the paper reveals the results of such instrumental policy in the educative sector and the whole city, showing evidence regarding the creation of public value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relationship between civil conflict and educational achievement in Colombia. We use multilevel analysis to deal adequately with the hierarchical structure of the data and an instrumental variables approach to tackle the possibility of bias associated with endogeneity. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first effort to understand the relationship between civil conflict and educational achievement in exit examinations through the use of multilevel analysis. The results show that the relationship between the intensity of the conflict and performance on exit examinations is not as straightforward as it may seem at first glance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to explain the factors that determine the gap in the level of English language proficiency between public and private schools, and to determine whether it has narrowed over time as a result of public policies to generalize bilingualism in Colombia. The language scores on the Saber 11 tests for 2008 and 2013 were analyzed for this purpose. An educational production function that involves family, personal and school factors and an approach to the unobservable component of the skill is introduced. The difference in performance has remained more or less constant, but with a slight reduction; however, the unexplained portion, attributable to the students' motivational component, was found to have declined considerably, indicating that public policies are working in terms of helping students to become interested in learning a foreign language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of an empirical study whose main purpose is to determine the scores of technical efficiency (ET), pure technical efficiency (EPT) and scale efficiency (EE) in the district educational institutions (IED) of Santa Marta through the data envelopment analysis, and, at the same time, to establish protocols of improved for inefficients institutions. Using CCR-O (Charnes, Cooper y Rhodes) and BCC-O (Banker, Charnes y Cooper) models, the study evaluates the relative efficiency of 44 public institutions, which are analyzed in two categories: Group 1 (IE with less than or equal to 2000 students) and Group 2 (IE with more than 2000 students). In general terms, the empirical findings reveal that 20% of the evaluated institutions are CCR-O efficients and 43% are BBC-O efficients. On the other hand, 80% of inefficient educational institutions have operational scale (EE) issues and 57% also have administrative difficulties (EPT). The results also show that the worst extent of performance is IE John F. Kennedy (ET=0.304), (EPT=0.886) and (EE=0.343). Moreover, the IE Normal Superior para Señoritas (efficient IE), which is evaluator of 17 inefficients institutions, and San Francisco Javier College, which evaluates 15 inefficients institutions, are configured as the institutions that present the best practices and in role models. Finally, IED Nueva Colombia, IED Normal Superior San Pedro Alejandrino and IED Liceo del Sur Víctor de Lima are efficients institutions, however, they are not evaluators of none inefficient institution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Colombian Government has adopted a policy to improve communication skills in English at all education levels and especially in higher education, but little has been written about the achievements of the policy. This paper examines changes in the distribution of students' English proficiency level between the start and completion of their higher education programs. The results suggest an improvement in the distribution after graduating from higher education, characterized by a greater impact at higher scoring levels and an increased polarization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops elements of reflection on the constituent components of the Franciscan identity, from the place where educational speeches are exercised, as a proposal for the training of trainers from the appropriation of values and Franciscan principles as a proposal of life, in the midst of a world immersed in a profound crisis of sense. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is an attempt to analyze the progress and challenges of inclusive education in Colombia, through a comparative analysis of policies and strategies developed within the country and the measures taken by Spain in the same direction. Nine categories were defined for this analysis, based on the key elements identified in the international agreements with names preceded by "UNESCO": 1) the inclusive education approach, 2) focus groups, 3) responsible parties and resources, 4) teaching and learning strategies, 5) curriculum design, 6) educational levels, 7) teacher training, 8) community involvement and 9) evaluation and monitoring. The sources of information include official documents from the agencies in each country that oversee and direct educational services, as well as national legislation currently in effect. The results of this analysis indicate the two countries in question are not so far apart in terms of their legislation and recognition of the principle of inclusion. This shows Colombia has adapted its policy on education to reflect international guidelines. However, it is clear the implementation of these guidelines is still far from inclusive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper appraises quantitatively the efficiency of public expenditure of 15 Latin American countries using cross-country data for averages between 2000 and 2009. For this purpose two non-parametric methods are used: Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Free Disposal Hull (FDH). Selected output indicators in primary and secondary school are evaluated respect to public spending in education per student. As a study case, Colombia's efficiency scores are compared with the most efficient peers in each of the educational levels to identify best practices and achieve better results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The empirical literature on the impact of violent conflicts on educational outcomes has focused on the impact of violence on human capital accumulation, neglecting other relevant outcomes such as educational equity. Using the empirical implementation of Ferreira and Gignoux (2011) of Roemer (1998)'s conceptual framework of equality of opportunities, this paper estimates the impact of conflict intensity on educational equity in Colombia, as measured by the school performance in the Saber 11° test, for the period 1997-2010. To deal with potential biases due to reverse causality or omitted variables, we use the apprehension of murderers by the public force as a source of exogenous variation of violence in an instrumental variables estimation. The results suggest that conflict increases equality of opportunities in educational attainment. By increasing school dropout, conflict induces a positive selection in terms of ability and effort for the proportion of students who remain in the system. This suggests that caution is needed when interpreting patterns of educational equity based on outcomes rather than processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2004, the district of Bogotá has built massively schools of great capacity and infraestructure known as Megacolegios (Mega-schools). By 2010, the city counted with 42 new school which were built in the areas of the city with the highest demand for educational access. This paper uses matching techniques to measure the impact of the megacolegios in the students performance on the Saber 11° estandarized test. The results show that the megacolegios have no impact on the students performance. Nevertheless, The megacolegios do mitigate the negative relation between performance and some students characteristics like over age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research aims to clarify the current situation of the Deaf community in Bogotá in regard to the permanence and access to higher education. The study was carried out based on the analysis of the current national and international legal framework that relates to people with disabilities, and specifically to the Deaf community. With a deep analysis of the existing legal framework, this paper will attempt to determine whether or not this framework is sufficient in fully guaranteeing the right to education of Deaf people, taking into account the variables of permanence and access to education, and the discussion on whether the Deaf community may or may not be considered a linguistic minority. Furthermore, this investigation will attempt to determine the flaws in case law, legislation and public policies that have thus far been implemented, while also highlighting policy recommendations that can be adopted from a constitutional standpoint on the fundamental rights to equality and education for people with disabilities, all under the social model that defines this concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to present the organization and implementation of an immersion course in Spanish as a foreign language (SFL) from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) of Australia, and the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (PUJ), Bogota, Colombia. The course was conducted over two weeks in November 2012, and 10 Australian students participated. We present the experience and its results, among which we highlight the improvement in communicative competences, as well as cultural and intercultural competences of students, especially for having worked aspects intrinsically related such as language and culture. It is concluded that this type of courses allow a greater linguistic development and an invaluable cultural and intercultural learning for students that are in the acquisition process of the so called intercultural communicative competence [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research context that this article seeks to show the different models of college, from the evolution and development of universities and their management in Latin America, particularly in Chile, and how they affect the development of societies, both past and contemporary, highlighting some similar and different characteristics that they have. It should be noted that the Chilean model of education has been considered to have a great impact on some countries in Latin America, especially in Colombia. Moreover, the general objective of this research was the reflection on the reforms of higher education in Latin America and the impact these reforms have had in recent years in Chile, which seem to have created a high dissatisfaction in the social context, due to the excessive commercialization of educational services. For the development of this paper an extensive review of the literature, which accounts for the phenomenon to be investigated is made and semi-structured interviews were carried out to experts in the field, which helped to understand what authors explain in the literature concerning models and educational reforms in Latin America and the current situation of education in Chile, thereby achieving a clear vision of the reality of the problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Virtual education has taken hold within the Latin American educational system as a methodology that provides vocational training to people whom, for various reasons, cannot access classroom education. This paper aims to review the literature on the current state of virtual education in Colombia and the factors associated with dropout in Virtual Learning. As findings during the literature search, we encountered that during the period between 2000 and 2012 in Colombia 38,136 students were enrolled in this modality, demonstrating the immense acceptance of these programs and the impact thereof. However, despite the number of enrolled, dropout rates are high. According to the System for Dropout Prevention in Higher Education, in 2013 there were a total of 48,850 students who dropped out of distance education programs, which represents 38.2% attrition and therefore a retention index of 61.8%. These figures suggest the need for studies to determine the factors that lead students to make the decision to desert. In this regard, the Colombian context studies of this phenomenon are in very early stages and most have adopted theoretical models grounded in distance-traditional education. However, some factors that may be associated with dropout in this modality are related to technical aspects and socio-cultural characteristics of students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]