The influence of family cultural capital on individual school achievement

Abstract

To what extent is family cultural capital important for student development? This is the question that guides this article, based on research conducted by the Joaquim Nabuco Foundation with 4,191 students in the 6th grade of 120 public schools in the city of Recife (PE). The estimation of the relationship between family cultural capital and students’ cognitive performance is based on i) the use of a synthetic index obtained through Multiple Correspondence Analysis that captures family cultural capital, ii) the use of a longitudinal assessment of performance. in mathematics that allows the control of the student’s fixed effect, and iii) the use of Ordinary Least Squares models. The results showed that differences in school performance persist favorable to students who have a favorable family cultural capital situation.