Doctoral Dissertation Research: Families as Gatekeepers: The Educational Decision-Making Process in Peru

This doctoral dissertation research project explores how educational decisions are made by Peruvian families. Using both quantitative and qualitative techniques, it investigates how cultural demands, human capital and past schooling experience, family economy, family structure and networks, actual versus perceived school quality, and community context coalesce in creating the values and aspirations families assign to education. Family members do not always agree on the amount of education children should receive. Because of this, we also explore how these differences are resolved when they arise. As we elucidate the process by which families make educational decision, we simultaneously investigate how these translate into various schooling outcomes. We tie these outcomes together in an educational history for each child to explore their connection and the influence each has on the pathway familial decisions follow. The quantitative data come from the nationally representative Encuesta Nacional Sobre Medicion de Niveles de Vida. An event history approach and multi-level modeling will incorporate both a cross-sectional as well as a longitudinal components in the analysis. After uncovering quantitative trends, we will conduct in-depth interviews in Peru with key players in the decision-making process: parents, children, extended kin, teachers, school administrators, and community leaders.