Access to Preprimary Education and Progression in Primary School: Evidence from Rural Guatemala

Evidence on the impacts of a large-scale expansion in preprimary education is limited and mostly circumscribed to high- and middle-income nations. We estimate the effects of such an expansion on progression in primary school in rural communities of Guatemala, where the number of preprimaries increased from about 5,300 to 11,500 between 1998 and 2005. Combining administrative and population census data in a difference-in-differences framework, we find that access to preprimary education increased by 2.4 percentage points the proportion of students who progress adequately and attend sixth grade by age 12. These positive although limited effects suggest the need for complementary actions to produce substantial improvements in adequate progression.