The Human Capital in Rural Guatemala (HCRG) data were collected during the 2002 school year in 59 rural schools randomly drawn from three departments (states): Alta Verapaz, Chimaltenango and Escuintla. The data files are organized around two main themes. The first is a detailed event history of grade attainment and dropout for a sample of children taken from first grade enrollment rolls in 1999. Each child was followed through the end of the 2002 school year, and (when possible) interviewed to obtain both time-varying and fixed information pertaining to their schooling experiences, family background, etc. Most of the individual student attendance "spells" can be matched with the actual teacher from that grade. Analysis files can be built by matching the individual student schooling spells with the student, teacher, school and community files.

The second theme is student achievement in grades three and four. During 2001 the PRONERE national assessment project applied standardized tests in language and mathematics in a nationally-representative sample of rural schools. The HCRG data collection picked up on this same sample and followed the students into the 2002 school year. The resulting longitudinal data file includes test score results from both periods for roughly 1,000 students. The test score data are augmented with extensive information on school and teacher quality based on classroom observations, a teacher questionnaire, and a hybrid instrument that measured curriculum coverage and the teacher's content knowledge of Spanish and mathematics. There is also very detailed information on the child's family background, including child labor activities in and out of the home.

Papers using the HCRG data that are available for download: