Resumo Melhorar a qualidade da Educação leva à melhoria das taxas de desenvolvimento social e econômico de indivíduos e países. Poucos estudos buscam identificar práticas efetivas nas áreas pedagógica e gerencial que possam direcionar os atores educacionais em suas ações. Assim, esse estudo tem como objetivo identificar indicadores e metas para o aumento do desempenho escolar na disciplina de português no Ensino Fundamental municipal - nível II. Essas práticas foram identificadas com base na análise das escolas municipais brasileiras de alto desempenho. As escolas foram selecionadas e agrupadas por nível socioeconômico para mensurar a eficiência, por meio da ferramenta DEA de dois estágios. Além disso, foram encontrados 45 indicadores e seus objetivos, que podem aumentar o desempenho das escolas no ensino de leitura de escrita. Eles estão relacionados aos vários atores do processo educacional, como: estudantes, professores e diretores. Alguns indicadores são relacionados às habilidades de gerenciamento do Diretor, reforçando ainda mais seu papel na promoção da qualidade do Ensino.

Abstract Improving the quality of Education leads to the improvement of the social and economic development rates of individuals and countries. Furthermore, few studies seek to identify effective practices in the pedagogical and management areas that can direct educational actors in their actions. Thus, this study aims to identify indicators and goals for increasing school performance in the subject of Portuguese in municipal lower secondary Education. These practices were identified based on the analysis of Brazilian municipal Schools of High Performance. Municipal schools were selected and grouped by socioeconomic level to measure efficiency through the two-stage DEA tool. The results show that the increase in current expenditure is not always accompanied by the improvement in the results. In addition, 45 indicators and goals that can increase the performance of schools in reading and writing teaching were found. They are related to the various actors of the educational process, namely: students, teachers and principals. Of these actors, some were related to the Principal’s management skills, reinforcing his/her role in promoting the quality of teaching.

Resumen Mejorar la calidad de la Educación conduce a la mejora de las tasas de desarrollo social y económico de individuos y países. En otro ejemplo, pocos estudios buscan identificar prácticas efectivas en las áreas pedagógicas y de gestión que puedan dirigir a los actores educativos en sus acciones. Por lo tanto, este estudio tiene como objetivo identificar indicadores y objetivos para aumentar el rendimiento escolar en la disciplina de portugués en la Escuela Primaria municipal - nivel II. Estas prácticas se identificaron embasadas en el análisis de las escuelas primarias municipales brasileñas de alto rendimiento. La escuela primaria municipal - nivel II fue seleccionada y agrupada por nivel socioeconómico para medir la eficiencia a través de la herramienta DEA de dos etapas. Los resultados muestran que el aumento de las inversiones no siempre va acompañado de una mejora en los resultados. Además, se encontraron 45 indicadores y sus objetivos, que pueden aumentar el rendimiento de las escuelas en la enseñanza de lectura y escritura. Se relacionan con los distintos actores del proceso educativo, a saber: estudiantes, docentes y directores. De estos actores, algunos se relacionaron con las habilidades de gestión del director, reforzando su papel en la promoción de la calidad de la Enseñanza.

Abstract Purpose The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the efficiency in financial intermediation and the cost efficiency in banking service of credit unions in Brazil, based on essentially accounting variables, and to analyze the temporal evolution of the efficiency of these cooperatives. Design/methodology/approach With a sample of 315 cooperatives over the period from 2007 to 2014, this research uses a two-stage process: application of regression models with panel data to verify which variables are related to the defined outputs, with the reduction of 31 variables to 8 variables in both models; and application of the data envelopment analysis method to obtain an analysis of credit unions’ efficiency. Findings The results demonstrate a high level of efficiency in financial intermediation, with low variation over time, associated with a low efficiency in the banking service, in which few cooperatives have remained efficient over time. In addition, the cooperatives with highest efficiency in financial intermediation were also the most efficient in providing services. Research limitations/implications This research has some limitations about the capacity of the proxies used to capture the real effect of the variables and assumptions of economic relations resulting in restrictions to generalize the results. Practical implications Cooperatives are usually analyzed under just one dimension. By separating the analysis into financial intermediation and banking services, cooperatives that are more efficient in each dimension can be identified, in addition to analyzing the evolution over time. The authors found that efficiency tends to be lower in banking services, and few cooperatives remain at the highest level of efficiency over time in both models. Social implications Credit unions provide an important service in the banking and credit market. Therefore, understanding its operation and the characteristics that influence its efficiency allows a better management of the cooperatives themselves and a greater understanding of this important segment of the financial market.

Abstract This study aimed to identify the main points of control in the efficiency of the productive process in sugarcane mills. Thus, a two-stage DEA approach applied for a sample of 121 mills, distributed among the seasons of 2010/2011 until 2014/2015. The first stage separated the efficient mills in transforming the total recovered sugar (TRS) of the processed sugarcane into sugar and ethanol, and the second stage identified significant production process variables in the efficiency with truncated regression. Besides, with the help of industry experts and statistical analysis, established 13 variables, which could control and increase the efficiency of the sugar and ethanol production processes, contributing to the overall efficiency of sugar and ethanol units.