Juliane Borchers

The present work aims to analyze the main determinants of the school performance of Brazilian children and adolescents and especially the impacts of the Bolsa Família Program on educational indicators of children and adolescents from 6 to 17 years old, according to data from the PNADC (Research National Household Sample Survey) for the year 2019. The methodology used to identify the determinants of school delay and dropout was the Logit Multinomial method, while to investigate the impacts of the PBF, the method of Propensity Score Matching. A specification was carried out in two age groups: 6 to 14 years and 15 to 17 years for school attendance and dropout and 8 to 14 years and 15 to 17 years for school delay, observing the possibility of different impacts according with the groups considered. The results showed that the main determinant characteristics of school dropout and delay were the race, sex and age of the students, the education of the person responsible for the household and the family composition, especially for families with only the father and children, income family per capita, receiving the Bolsa Família Program, living in the north, northeast and south of the country and living in the urban and metropolitan areas. Among the most relevant results, the highest per capita household monthly income and the highest educational level of those responsible for the household are the variables that most positively impacted school distortion and dropout. And still, it is important to note that individuals from single-parent homes have lower performance compared to others. The results of the impact of the PBF indicated that beneficiaries are more likely to attend school and less likely to be late in school and drop out of school. It was also possible to observe that the program shows a greater impact for the older age group, for boys, non-whites and the rural area in relation to school attendance and dropout. Regarding the results of the impact on school delay, they are also higher for the older age group, but for girls, in the central-west and northeast regions and in the rural area. In this way, there is confirmation of the hypothesis that the PBF has impacts on educational indicators, improving the performance of its beneficiaries. Therefore, the results of the work suggest that in the absence of the PBF, dropout and school delay would be at even higher levels.