Family Background and Academic Performance inCartagena Public Schools

Abstract

This paper discusses the importance of family background on public schools students’ academic performance in Cartagena, Colombia, and compares the relative impact of these characteristics with the results obtained in Barranquilla and Bogotá. Using the results of the SABER 11 tests in mathematics and language for the year 2010, and employing a quantile regression methodology, we found that academic performance in Cartagena is associated with the education of father and mother only for the upper level, while in Bogotá they are significant at all levels, and the mother’s education is more important than father’s education. On the other side, being poor, living in a low-income and large household, without provisions or educational resources, lowers the academic achievement expected of students in public institutions in the three cities.