RELATIVE EFFICIENCY OF PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE FINAL YEARS OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: AN DEA ANALYSIS OF BRAZILIAN STATES WITH QEDU INDICATORS

This article evaluates the relative efficiency of public education in the final years of elementary school in Brazilian federative units, comparing the capacity of states to combine learning, school flow, and age-grade regularity. The heterogeneity of state education systems in Brazil makes comparisons based on isolated indicators difficult, making a multidimensional approach necessary. A product-oriented DEA BCC model was applied with unit input and outputs associated with the IDEB, learning, approval, and age-grade regularity, based on QEdu data for 2023, covering 26 federative units. Five units make up the efficiency frontier: Ceará, São Paulo, Paraná, Mato Grosso and Goiás. Ceará and Mato Grosso stand out as the most recurrent benchmarks. Relevant regional differences are observed, with better averages in the South and Southeast. The results indicate that the management of school flow is a decisive component of efficiency, and that non-discretionary contextual factors should be considered in the interpretation of the scores.