The achievement of indigenous students in Guatemalan primary schools

Abstract

This paper analyses the difference in academic achievement between indigenous and nonindigenous children that attend rural primary schools in Guatemala. The gap ranges between 0.8 and 1 standard deviation in Spanish, and approximately half that in Mathematics. A decomposition procedure suggests that a relatively small portion of the achievement gap is explained by differences in the socioeconomic status of indigenous and nonindigenous families. Other results are consistent with the notion that school attributes play an important role in explaining the achievement gap. The paper discusses several explanations-such as the lack of bilingual education-that are consistent with the empirical findings. r

Can Schools Reduce the Indigenous Test Score Gap? Evidence from Chile

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Guatemala, the Peace Accords and education: a post‐conflict struggle for equal opportunities, cultural recognition and participation in education

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Evaluating multigrade school reform in Latin America

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