Flávia Fernanda da Silva Machado

This study investigates the school performance of students in the 5th and 9th years of Primary and Secondary Education and the differences between the Portuguese and mathematics disciplines. Seeking to identify their main determinants, considering the students' personal and environmental characteristics and aspects of the school, based on the SAEB information, for the year 2015. The method used to analyze the estimates was the multilevel model, because the data have a naturally hierarchical structure, so that the students are nested to the schools, in addition, the gross and marginal contributions were estimated. The results indicated that variables such as disapproval, school delay, income and skin color have a significant impact on proficiency. In addition, school-related variables such as their private nature, principal's experience, and degree of violence at school also influence performance. It was also observed that the school performance of public school students is lower than that of private schools, and that Portuguese proficiency scores were lower than those of maths. It is important to emphasize that the percentage of non-white students who reach the 3rd grade of high school is lower than those who are in the 5th grade classes. This is also true of students from a low socioeconomic level, which indicates an inequality between white and non-white population in access to education. Thus, the results of this study confirm that inequalities still persist in the distribution of school performance of Brazilian children and young people. Being that, the socioeconomic level of the family, the nature of the school, public or private and the disapprovals are among the main determinants of the differences observed. Keywords: School Proficiency. Education. Adolescents. Multilevel Models. SAEB