We had the honor to have one of the authors from – “Educational Performance of the Poor: Lessons from Rural Northeast Brazil” by Harbison and Hanushek (1992) and David Plank who wrote a review about the book. 

The book covers the socioeconomic context of the Northeast at the time (1981-1987), and the challenges faced in the implementation and evaluation of the EDURURAL Project. 

Very interesting discussion. Main take-aways:

• They were unable to find a relation between student performance and the teacher’s educational level or years of experience – the conclusion is that, at least quantitatively, it is impossible to pinpoint what a good teacher is – it seems like it is an art.
• Pouring money into education works if it is to build schools but no one really know how to spend this money once it comes down to improving the quality of education.
• Brazil has come a long way in educational infrastructure but now it’s time to talk about quality.