Social Policy and Educational Equality: What Works in the Case of Mexico?

• In Event: Economía de la educación

Abstract

This research considers how family socioeconomic status, school factors, and regional variations in school quality and policy interact to produce educational stratification in Mexico. Following the reasoning of earlier work that found that nations have the ability to reduce the importance of socioeconomic status in determining student academic success, it argues that since regional social organization and government policy vary, the effects of socioeconomic status on student achievement will also vary on a regional basis. Moreover, this work argues that social organization and governmental policies of regions create mechanisms by which socioeconomic status influences student achievement. These mechanisms have the potential to create circumstances whereby socioeconomically advantaged individuals are able to obtain greater benefits from schooling than their socioeconomically disadvantaged peers. Hierarchical linear models (HLM) are applied to data from the 31 states and the Distrito Federal of Mexico to explore how a number of structural characteristics of states, including state education policy and social welfare policy, influence the relationship between socioeconomic status and student achievement. Results will be helpful in understanding how changes in policy and other regional factors would be most effective in eliminating educational stratification based on socioeconomic background in the Mexican case.

Author

• Stephanie M Arnett, New Mexico State University