This article analyzes possible factors that drove the performance of Pernambuco in the evaluation of the Brazilian education system, a state that achieved first place in the ranking of the Basic Education Development Index for Secondary Education in 2015. A quantitative approach was adopted through multiple linear regression, which uses data from the Anísio Teixeira National Institute for Educational Studies and Research and investigates the variation of the performance indicator from the perspective of four axes of educational policies adopted in that state. The results found indicate that the axes of innovation and full-time education significantly explain the variation of the indicator, contrary to the axes of infrastructure and management, for which sufficient evidence was not found.
