Dropout at Secondary School in Argentina. a Dynamic View

Scholarization rate in secondary school in Argentina is quite high, but graduation is not. During the last decade scholarization has risen considerably, but lots of those who now reach this level are not able to conclude it, many of them belong to poor households. Most empirical evidence on dropout for Latin American countries is based on information collected at one point in time through large scale surveys. Children who are in school are compared with those who were once but who at the time of the survey are not anymore. This approach has two shortcomings. First, most observable factors are measured after children have dropped out from school and are only able to provide post facto explanations of dropout. Second, this approach fails to recognize that dropout is often the complex process which may include sequences of inter related events. In this paper, we study the process of dropping out from school over time and relate it to a number of possible determinants in order to understand its dynamics. Using matched panel data from the Permanent Household Survey (EPH), we could capture the young people aged 13-19 in several surveys within two years (with a maximum of 4 surveys). Hence, we could identify students in the sample that were at school and the next time they were surveyed they declared not to be at school any more, even though they had not graduated. This information allows us to study the educational paths of young people in Argentina according to their socioeconomic background. Also, working with a dynamic panel allows us to see how the socioeconomic situation of the student changes after he drops-out from school. This work intends to contribute with valuable information for policy makers to define strategies to help poor students to conclude their studies.