Determinants of School Performance in Guatemala: Family Background Characteristics and Early Abilities

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore how two sets of antecedent variables contribute to variation in school enrolment and performance in four villages in rural Guatemala. Measures of preschool cognition and indicators of family socioeconomic status (maternal education level and house quality) predicted school enrolment for boys and girls. Similarly, for those who went to school, socioeconomic status and preschool abilities were associated with age-atentry, the number of grades passed and failed, and the maximum grade attained. Multivariate regression analyses indicate that preschool abilities, after controlling for indicators of family background, explain significant portions of variance in age of entry and other measures of school performance. The results are interpreted in the light of the cumulative deficit hypothesis which postulates that early environmental disadvantages increase over time. These data indicate that the school experience contributes to maintaining, rather than reducing, social class differences.

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