Family Arrangments and Support and Academic Success: An Analysis for Public School in Minas Gerais

Formal education is increasingly associated with human capital and individual achievment particularly so with a Neoliberal framework. Moreover, there is a tendency to off load responsabilities onto students and family members for poor academic achievement and ultimately retention. When analyzing curricular progress it is import to bare in mind that each student's academic career is closely related to his family background as well as the production and reproduction of social interactions that he/she experiences, hence tracing differentials within educational institutions.This article aims to investigate the degree to wich family arrangements and support influence retention rates in Minas Gerais, taking into account socioeconomic conditions,participation in the labor market, race, cultural capital and the institution resources. The quantitative analysis is based on a self-applied questionarie completed by 9th graders studying in public schools during 2011. A significant portion of respondents reportedly lived in households headed by single mothers.These cases exhibit a higher retention rate tha those in which the student lives with both parents.Given that the mother's educational attainment is an important predictor of student's retetion we observe that children of mothers with an educational achievement inferior to 4th grade or with unknow scholarly exhibit a higher chance of repeating a grade in relation to those with mothers that completed high school. Another indicator of academic success was the level of parental involvement. Insertion in the labor market proved to be hihgly associated with retention. This should be highlighted given that 17% os respondents worked.Attending pre-school is an indicator of human capital but yet was not significantly diminish the chance of repetition. Being a female, white, with a higer socieconomic status was positively related to academic success, as well as attending a rural public school.