Title_ A Study on the Factors Influencing Girls’ Transition to Secondary School in Guatemala

Author_ Kristel Andrea Camposeco Castro and Ki Nam Jin

Pages 95-118

Abstract_ The transition from primary to secondary school is as one of the most important moments in a student’s career, where girls who are most vulnerable of dropping out. Nevertheless, this moment has not been highlighted because primary level enrollment has been prioritized. This study analyzed the factors that influence girls’ transition to secondary school as well as location inequalities, as girls in rural settings proved to be more vulnerable. Guatemala’s municipalities were the central unit of analysis, divided among rural and urban predominance to evaluate the factors that account for the achievement gap. Standard descriptive statistics, t-tests and finally hierarchical regression were performed to analyze the considered factors in explaining girls´ transition to secondary school. The factors considered within the conducted model explain 52 percent of the predicting power of the variance of girls’ transition to secondary school. More importantly, statistical evidenced proved that: poverty, female literacy rate and the Educational Advancement Index per municipality, are the most decisive predictors of this educational transition.

Keywords_ adolescent girls, transition, secondary school, rural, urban, municipality.