Bilingual education and student performance in Guatemala

Bilingual education is often seen as one means of improving the educational attainment of indigenous children in developing countries. This paper presents the results of an evaluation of the National Bilingual Education Program serving approximately one-third of the indigenous primary school students in Guatemala. Findings show that program inputs of teacher training and instructional materials have had a significant effect on student achievement and a slight positive effect on promotion, repetition and drop-out rates. The superior performance of boys over girls and a teacher-centered approach to instructional delivery suggest that improvements should be made before expansion of the program. Copyright (C) 1996 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd