differences in all the pre-treatment administrative variables are jointly insignificant (the lowest p- value is 0.22).

However, the treatment groups perform worse than the control group in two key dimensions, namely dropout (36% for the pooled treatment vs. 34%), and school size (268 vs. 296, respectively), suggesting that the treatment schools are relatively more vulnerable than the control schools. In particular, the 2-percentage points gap in dropout rates is an issue because it creates a significant downward bias in the impact of the program (particularly taking into account that we are analyzing a very low-cost intervention).

To correct for this bias, as will be discussed in the next section, we will include school-fixed effects in our estimations (exploiting the availability of repeated cross-sections from the administrative data).

Table 2. Baseline average characteristics of the students in control and treatment groups.

|_Variable_|_Control_|_ENTRE_|_ENTRE 1_|_ENTRE 2_|_ENTRE 3_|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|Age|1291|1294|1292|1295*|1294|
|1 = Male|.<br>0.50|.<br>0.51|.<br>0.51|.<br>0.52|.<br>0.51|
|1 = Repeater|0.01|0.01|0.01|0.01|0.01|
|Grade in math (previous year)|7.25|7.25|7.25|7.25|7.25|
|Grade in language 1 (previous year)|7.42|7.41|7.39|7.44|7.41|
|<br>Grade in language 2 (previous year)|7.45|7.43|7.42|7.45|7.43|
|Grade in language 3 (previous year)|7.48|7.43*|7.42|7.45|7.41*|
|Grade in natural science (previous year)<br>|7.47<br>|7.44<br>|7.44<br>|7.44<br>|7.45<br>|
|Grade in social science (previous year)|7.42|7.42|7.41|7.43|7.41|
|Grade in artistic expression (previous year)|7.80|7.78|7.77|7.80|7.78|
|Grade in physical education (previous year)|8.07|8.04|8.03|8.05|8.04|
|Grade in citizenship education (previous year)|7.68|7.67|7.66|7.68|7.65|
|Grade in productivity and development (previous year)|7.84|7.82|7.81|7.84|7.81|
|Risk|0.34|0.36**<br>|0.37*<br>|0.36|0.36|
|Dropout rate in the transition from 6th to 7th grade in the school that the student attends|0.33|0.36**|0.36*|0.36|0.36|
|Average age in 6th grade in the school that the student attends|12.91|12.94|12.92|12.95*|12.94|
|Proportion of male students in 6th grade in the school that the student attends|0.50|0.51|0.51|0.52|0.51|
|Proportion of repeaters in 6th grade in the school that the student attends|0.01|0.01|0.01|0.01|0.01|
|Number of students at risk in the school that the student attends|11.47|12.58|12.82|13.05|11.86|
|Size of the school that the student attends|296.37|268.39*|268.77|261.83*|274.61|
|Average score in math in 6th grade (previous year) in the school that the student attends|7.30|7.31|7.30|7.27|7.36*|
|Average score in language 1 in 6th grade (previous year) in the school that the student attends|7.47|7.49|7.48|7.47|7.52|
|Average score in language 2 in 6th grade (previous year) in the school that the student attends|7.53|7.50|7.50|7.50|7.51|
|Average score in language 3 in 6th grade (previous year) in the school that the student attends|7.52|7.50|7.49|7.51|7.51|
|Average score in natural sience in 6th grade (previous year) in the school that the student attends|7.51|7.52|7.53|7.51|7.54|
|<br>Average score in social science in 6th grade (previous year) in the school that the student attends|7.46|7.50|7.49|7.47|7.54**|
|Average score in artistic expression in 6th grade (previous year) in the school that the student attends|7.85|7.85|7.85|7.83|7.87|
|Average score in physical education in 6th grade (previous year) in the school that the student attends|8.10|8.07|8.04|8.08|8.08|
|Average score in citizenship education in 6th grade (previous year) in the school that the student|7.75|7.75|7.74|7.74|7.76|
|<br>Average score in productivity and development in 6th grade (previous year) in the sch. the stud. attends|7.91|7.91|7.89|7.93|7.92|
|% of students in schools with bilingual modality<br>|0.39<br>|0.41<br>|0.41<br>|0.41<br>|0.41<br>|
|% of students in municipalities with SINAE|0.21|0.21|0.21|0.19|0.22|
|% of students in municipalities prioritized by poverty|0.53|0.54|0.53|0.56|0.53|
|% of students in Guatemala|0.18|0.19|0.19|0.17|0.20|
|% of students in El Progreso<br>|0.01<br>|0.01<br>|0.01<br>|0.01<br>|0**<br>|
|% of students in Sacatepequez|0.01|0.01|0.01|0.01|0.01|
|% of students in Chimaltenango|0.05|0.05|0.05|0.04|0.05|
|% of students in Escuintla<br>|0.06|0.06|0.05<br>|0.06|0.06|
|% of students in Santa rosa|0.03|0.01|0.01*|0.02|0.01|
|% of students in Solola|0.04|0.03|0.03|0.05|0.02*|
|% of students in Totonicapan|0.04|0.04|0.04|0.04|0.04|
|% of students in Quetzaltenango<br>|0.03<br>|0.04<br>|0.05*<br>|0.04<br>|0.03<br>|
|% of students in Suchitepequez|0.03|0.03|0.03|0.03|0.03|
|% of students in Retalhuleu|0.02|0.02|0.03|0.02|0.02|
|% of students in San marcos<br>|0.09<br>|0.09<br>|0.09<br>|0.08<br>*|0.09<br>|
|% of students in Huehuetenango<br>% of students in Quiche|0.04<br>0.07|0.04<br>0.07|0.04<br>0.07|0.06<br>0.08|0.04<br>0.07|
|% of students in Baja Verapaz|003|003|002|003|003|
|<br>% of students in Alta Verapaz|.<br>0.10|.<br>0.10|.<br>0.09|.<br>0.10|.<br>0.11|
|<br>% of students in Peten|0.05|0.04|0.05|0.03**|0.06|
|% of students in Izabal|0.04|0.04|0.04|0.04|0.05|
|% of students in Zacapa|0.00|0.00|0.00|0.00|0.00|
|<br>% of students in Chiquimula|0.03|0.04|0.03|0.04|0.04|
|% of students in Jalapa|0.05|0.04*|0.03*|0.04|0.03*|
|% of students in Jutiapa|0.03|0.02|0.03|0.03|0.02|
|_Test of joint significance(p-value)_||0.90|0.98|0.22|0.45|
|_Number of observations_|19940|57235|18974|19175|19086|

Notes: (1) * Statistically significant difference with respect to the control group at 10%. ** Statistically significant difference with respect to the control group at 5%. *** Statistically significant difference with respect to the control group at 1%. (2) Standard errors are clustered at school level.

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