Evaluation of the “Maestro Unico” reform

This project represents the first evaluation of the “Maestro Unico” reform in Italy, which sizably reduced the number of teachers in primary schools of the country from 2008. Its implementation was accompanied with an increase of class size, and with the possibility offered to schools to reduce instruction time.

The study has three main objectives, aimed at informing policy analysis at the national and international level. First, we document how the reform affected various school inputs. Second, we quantify the impact of the reform on pupils’ cognitive abilities. Finally, we study the possible effects of instruction time on the labor supply of mothers. This project contributes to the existing international literature by providing (a) robust evidence on school-level and household-level responses to policies aimed at lowering schools’ financial resources, and (b) useful insights toward structural modelling of the education production function. The project is conducted in collaboration with Prof. Daniela Vuri (University of Rome “Tor Vergata”), and is funded by the Fondazione per la Scuola (Compagnia di San Paolo).