Educational Efficiency Drivers in Uruguay: Evidence from pisa 2012

The significant budgetary effort observed in Uruguay in the last decade has not been accompanied by better academic results, which evidences the possible presence of inefficiencies in the education system. In this sense, the aim of this paper is to identify the main potential sources of educational efficiency in secondary public schools. Based on information from pisa 2012, the analysis reveals that there is potential for these schools to improve their academic outcomes by on average 7.4% with the current resource allocation. To achieve this, educational policies should primarily focus on reviewing the existing repetition policies, teacher's instructional practices and management of teachers in schools as well as working on reducing the students' stress level associated with their work on maths.