School Failure and Intergenerational “Human Capital” Transmission in Portugal

Abstract

School Failure and Intergenerational Human Capital Transmission… ABSTRACT A new education reform is about to be passed into Law, in Portugal, the extension of compulsory education until the 12th grade being one of the main goals. Given huge value school failure indicators (e.g., illiteracy rates, drop-outs, retention rates) still exhibit for Portuguese education system, we keep large doubts on the effectiveness of such an aim. Moreover, education outcomes inertia between generations appears to be strong, in the light of some indirect indicators, although no recent specific research has been addressing such an issue. In this paper we therefore try to shed some light on the potential impact intergenerational school achievement would exert upon actual school failing and also control for possible endogeneity both with students' own previous trajectory indicators and school effect. For that purpose, we rely on 2003 data relative to Lisbon Metropolitan Area four schools as case studies (author abstract)School failure; father’s, mother’s education; students’ previous school trajectories; school effect; Portugal