Title: Performance-based measurement on public school efficiency: the case of Northern Thailand

Authors: Sangchan Kantabutra

Addresses: Business Administration Program, School of Management, Mae Fah Luang University, 333 Moo. 1, Thasood, Muang, Chiangrai 57100, Thailand

Abstract: This study proposes the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) technique to measure public upper secondary school performance in Northern Thailand. DEA uses benchmarking to measure efficiency of each school relative to others in its group. The results reveal that the schools operate inefficiently. To ascertain the performance-based efficiency measures, sensitivity analysis reveals the robustness of the resulting efficiency measures on efficiency. Policy to improve school efficiency may thus consider using performance-based analysis to identify which institution will yield higher marginal returns to prioritise inefficient institutions for treatment, in addition to allocating budget based on block grants or enrolment.

Keywords: performance measurement; school efficiency; management in education; DEA; data envelopment analysis; Thailand; secondary schools; sensitivity analysis.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMIE.2009.025269

International Journal of Management in Education, 2009 Vol.3 No.2, pp.105 - 124

Published online: 18 May 2009 *

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