ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the role of PISA in regional and private/public debates in Italy. Drawing from results of the last three waves of test scores (2009, 2012, 2015), we focus on the existent heterogeneity within the private sector in which different types of schools respond to different parent and children needs. Specifically, Italian private schools may be classified according to the motivation of parental choices, distinguishing between confessional and non-confessional schools according to available information on schools’ adherence to a particular religious philosophy (from both parent and school administrator questionnaires). We examine existing associations between school types and test scores and show that while private schools on average perform lower than public schools, confessional private schools are shown to be undistinguishable from corresponding public ones. We also test the causal effects of private education using an instrumental variable estimation, confirming the existence of heterogeneity in student outcomes (math, reading, and science) within the private sector in Italy.
