Policy implementation for full‑time schools: An analysis of the performance of Ceará students in the Saeb in 2013 and 2021

Abstract

This article analyzes the academic performance differentials between students enrolled in full-time and traditional high schools in Ceará, Brazil, using data from the Brazilian Basic Education Assessment System (Saeb) for 2013 and 2021. The study employs the Oaxaca Blinder decomposition method to separate the role of observable factors such as parental education, access to technology, and teacher experience from unobservable components related to school quality and student motivation. Results indicate that full-time students consistently outperform their peers, with gains of 18.31% in mathematics and 16.53% in Portuguese in 2013, and 17.96% and 16.81% in 2021, respectively. These findings highlight the importance of extended instructional time combined with vocational and socioemotional training, suggesting that full-time schooling can reduce educational inequalities and provide valuable insights for policy design in contexts with limited resources.