The article deals with the subject of efficient schools in three municipalities. The small sample of schools allows for greater detail than usual in the questions regarding the school, its environment and classroom practices. The data refers to a classical test of Portuguese applied to a sample of students in the fourth grade of primary education and to questionnaires regarding the students, teachers, school directors and the school. Initially, regression analysis is applied to identify the significant variables pertaining to each questionnaire; afterwards a general model is presented. Among the results, it is clear that the degree of participation of teachers and parents is important for the school results. The school autonomy, both administrative and pedagogical, also influences the classroom behavior. College degrees, both of teachers and directors, seem to affect negatively the performance of students, suggesting that undergraduate curriculum is largely irrelevant to this performance. Finally, textbooks are shown to be crucial for learning; also important is the existence of facilities such as library and TV room.
School evaluation; Determinants of learning; Municipal systems
