Public policies capable of raising learning levels and building the foundations for a successful transition from school to the world of work have occupied a central space in the debate on youth in recent years. In Brazil, one of the main initiatives implemented at scale since the mid-2000s has been the conversion of public high schools to full-time education.
Since 2023, in a pioneering experience, the state of Piauí underwent a rapid expansion of the model. By 2022, full-time education had been introduced in a group of 96 schools, in a gradual process that began in 2009. In 2023, reflecting the search for universalization of the model, 104 schools were converted. In 2024, there were 152. The IMDS institutional report "Impact Assessment of Full-Time High School Education in Piauí" presents the results of a survey that estimates the causal effect of this experience on school educational indicators.
The analysis was based, first, on an in-depth study of the components of the full-time school model in the state, through interviews with public managers linked to recent expansion efforts. In the second stage, a longitudinal database was built for the period from 2017 to 2024, in partnership with the Planning Secretariat of the State of Piauí (SEPLAN-PI). The database contains information on the year of conversion of each school in the state to the full-time model, learning indicators, such as scores in standardized exams of the state network (Portuguese Language and Mathematics) and school performance indicators, such as abandonment and approval rates.
