Measuring the efficiency of English secondary schools: An efficiency position approach by means of DEA

This paper outlines a DEA based approach to decompose overall measures of efficiency calculated at the pupil-level into those attributable to the pupil and to the school the pupil attends. Data on over 6,000 UK pupils taking A-levels in 1994 were analysed firstly on a within-school basis, so that pupil efficiency could be identified, after allowing for contextual factors such as innate ability. Then, all schools were grouped together and pupils assessed so that differences in pupil efficiencies attributable to the school attended could be identified. Efficiency measures across pupils attending the same school were aggregated, through averages, so that conclusions concerning the average effects of the school attended on pupils attainments could be ascertained. The availability of efficiency measures at the pupil-level still enables the analysis of whether schools were differentially effective with differing groups of pupils.