Análise regional das diferenças nas notas do ENEM entre as escolas públicas e privadas no pós-pandemia

Abstract

The ENEM (National High School Exam), created in 1998, is the main means of access to higher education in Brazil, providing access to programs such as SISU (Unified Selection System), PROUNI (University for All Program) and FIES (Student Financing Fund). Therefore, this study aims to understand the factors that influence the ENEM scores of candidates, analyzing two databases (2019 and 2022) to examine the variations in scores in the period before and after the COVID-19 pandemic and, consequently, the disparities between the Southeast and Northeast regions of Brazil. At first, the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) model was estimated with the proposition of analyzing the correlation of the scores obtained by the candidate with the school of origin, using socioeconomic variables as control variables. It is important to consider the bias of the school’s origin and the socioeconomic profile of the students, as students from private schools tend to have better grades. To mitigate this bias, the Propensity Score Matching (PSM) method was used, which is a valuable tool when the intention is to control selection biases. The results found reveal a discrepancy between the years 2019 and 2022, demonstrating an intensification of regional distortions in education, with better grade yields for students from private schools in the post-COVID-19 pandemic in the Southeast region.