The color of school failure:factors associated with academic failure of high-school students

Abstract

Currently, elementary/middle school is virtually offered to all children in Brazil, and crude and net schooling rates have increased for high school. Despite the advancements, educational results provided by governmental bodies demonstrate that student academic performance, both in elementary/middle school and in high school, have declined in all different subgroups of the population. Some studies have shown important educational differentials, according to gender and race. However, studies intended to understand which factors associated with school achievement are, in their majority, related to elementary/middle school. In light of this, the purpose of this work is to verify the relationship between race/color, according to gender, to students enrolled in the 11th grade of high school, from the state education system of nine municipalities that are part of the metropolitan area of Belo Horizonte, capital of the state of Minas Gerais. Data utilized came from Pesquisa Jovem (Youth Research) and from School Census, regarding the year 2009. Logistic regression models were applied. In general, results have shown major differentials according to race/color and gender. Risks of failure at the 10th grade of high school were higher for those who declared themselves as being brown (pardo) and the situation was even worse for the females (OR=2,23) compared to the males (OR=1,66).