Educational accountability and territorial inequalities: limits of results-based management in Brazilian municipalities

Abstract

This study analyzes the relationship between territorial heterogeneity and municipal educational performance, measured by the Basic Education Development Index (Ideb), within the context of results-based management and educational accountability in Brazil. Based on literature on accountability, educational regulation, and territorial inequalities, it assumes that standardized evaluation and monitoring models tend to disregard the distinct social, institutional, and territorial conditions of Brazilian municipalities. The research used Brazilian municipalities as the unit of analysis and utilized a database constructed from the integration of information from Ideb, the School Census, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), and the FIRJAN Fiscal Management Index (IFGF). The data were analyzed using multiple linear regression models with robust standard errors, estimated sequentially to incorporate territorial, socioeconomic, educational, and institutional factors. The results indicated that municipalities with a higher proportion of enrollments in rural areas presented lower levels of educational performance in all estimated specifications, even after the inclusion of control variables. Positive associations were also identified between educational performance, school infrastructure, and the institutional capacity of local governments. The findings indicate that territorial characteristics influence educational outcomes and suggest limitations of uniform accountability models by disregarding structural constraints that affect educational policies. The study contributes to the debate on educational management by highlighting the relevance of the territorial dimension in the interpretation of results and in the formulation of monitoring mechanisms that are more sensitive to inequalities among Brazilian municipalities.