Peer Effects: Ethnic Minorities and Performance in the Last Year of High School in Ecuador

Abstract

In Ecuador, educational and socioeconomic differences prevail between the majority population group (mestizos) and ethnic minorities (Afro-Ecuadorian, Indigenous, and Montubio peoples). The objective of this research is to determine the relationship between the peer effects of school composition and the academic performance of third-year high school students self-identifying as ethnic minorities. The research was based on education production function theory and a hierarchical linear model was employed for estimation. The results show that the net effect of an increase in ethnic minorities in school composition worsens academic performance in both the ethnic minority group and the majority group. A sharper decline was observed in the majority group, with all students’ grades converging downwards. These findings suggest a need to rethink the Ecuadorian education system from an inclusive perspective, and review the application of the Organic Law on Intercultural Education (LOEI).