Effects of the Promociona program against school failure in Spanish Roma students

Abstract

One of the groups most affected by school failure, in Spain, is the Spanish Roma population. The current study was developed to investigate the Promociona program, which was designed as a tool for school success and educational standardization of the Spanish Roma population. A matched case-control study (1:1 ratio) was proposed to analyze the educational and economic effects of Promociona. For this purpose, as the case group, 223 gypsy students belonging to the 4th year of secondary education and participating in Promociona, were analyzed during the 2017-18 academic year. To create the control group, a simple random sample of 223 gypsy students was taken, with the same characteristics as the case group, but not participating in Promociona during the same study period. Statistical methods used were descriptive (frequencies) and inferential techniques (binary logistic regression, Wald test and odds-ratio). The main results were that participation in Promociona was significantly related to school success, at the 95% confidence level. The probability of obtaining school success was 3.22 times higher in Promociona than in the control group. The significant factors of school success in the Promociona program, at 95% confidence, were the Staff (p = 0.028), Extracurricular Help (p = 0.021) and Tutoring (p = 0.042). The cost of school failure in Promociona was 2.25 times lower than in the control group. We concluded that Promociona facilitates the school success of Spanish Roma students and generates lower economic educational costs for this population group.