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The Achievement of Indigenous Students in Guatemalan Primary Schools

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The Achievement of Indigenous Students in Guatemalan Primary Schools ARTICLE IN PRESS International Journal of Educational Development 27 (2007) 61–76 www.elsevier.com/locate/ijedudev The achievement of indigenous students in Guatemalan primary schools Patrick J. McEwana,Ã, Marisol Trowbridgeb aDepartment of Economics, Wellesley College, 106 Central St., Wellesley MA 02481, USA bBates White, USA 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 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Guatemala; Indigenous groups; Achievement; Educational policy 1. Introduction the poverty line, compared to the 42% of the nonindigenous population.2 In 2000, 33% of Guatemalans ages 7 and older Among many causes, the difference in poverty is reported speaking at least one indigenous language, influenced by disparities in formal schooling.3 More usually a Mayan one.1 A growing literature than half of the earnings gap between indigenous describes the severe and intertwined deficits that and nonindigenous adults can be explained by confront all Guatemalans—but especially indigen- differences in years of schooling (de Ferranti ous groups—in multiple indicators of human et al., 2004; Shapiro, 2006; Steele, 1994). The development (Shapiro, 2006; World Bank, 2003, unexplained gap can be interpreted as an upper- 2004). For example, a 2000 household survey found bound estimate of labor market discrimination, that 79% of the indigenous population fell below since observationally similar indigenous workers 2The estimate is obtained from the 2000 ENCOVI household survey. ÃCorresponding author. Tel.: +1 781 283 2987. 3Others include differences in health and nutrition; the E-mail address: [email protected] (P.J. McEwan). distribution of agricultural land and other capital; access to basic 1The estimate is obtained from a 2000 household survey, the services; vulnerability to civil conflict, natural disasters, and other Encuesta de Condiciones de Vida (ENCOVI). The most commonly shocks; and a pervasive discrimination. For a broad summary of spoken indigenous languages are Mayan, including Ki’che, the empirical evidence, see Edwards (2003), Shapiro (2006), and Kaqchikel, Mam, and Q’eqchi. World Bank (2004). 0738-0593/$ - see front matter r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ijedudev.2006.05.004 ARTICLE IN PRESS 62 P.J. McEwan, M. Trowbridge / International Journal of Educational Development 27 (2007) 61–76 earn less (Psacharopoulos and Patrinos, 1994). nonindigenous children is substantial, as high as one Another plausible explanation is that the gap is standard deviation in language test scores and due to differences between the two groups that are approximately half that in mathematics.5 Guatema- not well-observed by researchers, such as the quality la’s language test score gaps are among the largest of schooling.4 Yet, there is little research that of any country in the Western Hemisphere, while its compares educational quality between indigenous Mathematics gaps fall in the middle of the distribu- and nonindigenous Guatemalans (for an exception, tion. These countries include Bolivia (McEwan, see Hernandez-Zavala et al., 2006). 2004; Vera, 1998), Canada (Ma and Klinger, 2000), This paper describes differences in academic Chile (McEwan, 2004, 2006), Ecuador (Garcia achievement between indigenous and nonindigen- Aracil and Winkler, 2004), Mexico (Hernandez- ous children that attend rural primary schools in Zavala et al., 2006), Peru (Hernandez-Zavala et al., Guatemala. There are three reasons to expect that 2006; World Bank, 2001), and the US (Freeman and indigenous children have lower achievement. First, Fox, 2005).6 indigenous parents in Guatemala and other Latin The paper further decomposes the Guatemalan American countries have less schooling and lower gap into three portions, following McEwan (2004): incomes, two indicators of the quality of the (1) a portion due to differences in observed family educational environment in the home (Hernandez- variables, such as parental schooling; (2) a portion Zavala et al., 2006; Psacharopoulos and Patrinos, due to differences in the quality of schools attended 1994; Hall and Patrinos, 2006). by indigenous and nonindigenous children; and (3) Second, indigenous families attend schools with a portion that remains unexplained, even when fewer instructional materials, lower-quality infra- comparing similar children within schools. It con- structure, and less qualified teachers (Hernandez- cludes that at least half of the gap can be explained Zavala et al., 2006; World Bank, 2004). Third, by differences in the quality of schools, broadly schools rarely address linguistic diversity among conceived, that are attended by each group. At least indigenous children, creating challenges for indi- another quarter of the gap is unexplained within genous children whose dominant language is not schools, even when children have similar socio- Spanish (McEwan, 2004). Some indigenous children economic status. The paper reviews several explana- have access to bilingual education, but coverage is tions—such as the lack of bilingual education—that far from universal (Shapiro, 2006). Thus, indigen- are consistent with the empirical findings. ous children may perform worse, even if their family and school environments are otherwise similar to those of nonindigenous children. 2. Background on the indigenous population and This paper uses data from Guatemala’s PRO- schooling NERE (Programa Nacional de Evaluacio´n del Rendimiento Escolar) survey to compare academic This section describes three essential facts con- achievement between indigenous and nonindigen- cerning Guatemala’s education system. First, the ous children. The 2001 PRONERE survey collected system serves a diverse and poor population in data on the Spanish and mathematics achievement which at least one-third of individuals speak an of third- and sixth-graders in a representative indigenous language other than Spanish. Second, sample of more than 500 rural schools (PRONERE, the population of indigenous children is less likely 2001). The data contain limited information on the to attend formal schooling. Third, there is limited background characteristics of students and families. but consistent evidence that indigenous students The empirical analysis shows that the difference 5 in average achievement between indigenous and The measured gaps are similar to estimates from other Guatemalan data (Hernandez-Zavala et al., 2006; Wu et al., 2003). 4There is no research on whether quality differences explain 6The literature on indigenous and nonindigenous test score ethnic earnings gaps in Latin America. For limited evidence on gaps has been informed by the voluminous research of the overall returns to measures of school quality in Honduras, see sociologists and economists on the black–white test score gap Bedi and Edwards (2002). A US literature suggests that black–- in the US. For recent evidence, see Cook and Evans (2000), Fryer white test score differences may explain a large proportion of the and Levitt (2004), Jencks and Phillips (1998), and the citations black-white earnings gap, and that convergence in school quality therein. This empirical evidence suggests that black–white test is partly responsible for reductions in earnings inequality (Card score gaps, typically as high as one standard deviation, fall and Krueger, 1992; Neal and Johnson, 1996). towards the upper end of the gaps cited in this paper. ARTICLE IN PRESS P.J. McEwan, M. Trowbridge / International Journal of Educational Development 27 (2007) 61–76 63 attend primary schools of lower quality, though Table 1 recent education reforms have attempted to remedy School enrolment among children ages 7–16, 2000 such gaps. Percentage enroled in school 2.1. The size of the indigenous population Nonindigenous (%) Indigenous (%) Nationwide 76.6 63.4 As a proportion of its total population, Guate- Urban 85.7 66.6 mala’s indigenous population is one of the largest in Rural 69.9 62.7 Latin America, alongside that of Bolivia (Layton and Patrinos, 2006). Approximately 33% of the Source: Encuesta de Condiciones de Vida (ENCOVI), 2000 and authors’ calculations. population ages 7 and older reports speaking an Notes: All calculations used ENCOVI sampling weights. In- indigenous language, usually a Mayan one (the digenous status is based upon self-reported knowledge of an estimates are from a nationally representative indigenous language. household survey, the ENCOVI, collected in 2000). These individuals are disproportionately located in rural areas, where 43% report speaking even greater disadvantage. In 2000, indigenous an indigenous language. adults had an average of 2.5 years of schooling, Self-reported language competence is only one compared to 5.7 among nonindigenous adults possible dimension of indigenous status.7 The (Shapiro, 2006). The inequities persist among household survey also inquired whether individuals
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