Abstract

FLORES VALDEZ, José Alfredo. Acceso oportuno y permanencia escolar de alumnos de 6 a 14 años en Sonora, 2003-2005. Región y sociedad [online]. 2009, vol.21, n.45, pp.191-204. ISSN 2448-4849.

The concept of quality in education is better interpreted by analyzing its different dimensions, in particular by making judgments about the efficiency, pertinence, and equity of the system as a whole. This approach has been used in various studies of the educational system based on the analysis of academic results, understood as synonymous of educational efficiency, ignoring the important and basic issue of access to education. There is much to be done; a detailed analysis of education coverage by age and grade not only shows meaningful progress in Sonora between 2003 and 2005, but also highlights the main problems. In this sense, the biggest weaknesses are timely access and permanence, the key to academic success in children aged 10-12 and 14, who are in the final stages of elementary and middle school. The challenge is to avoid the repetition of school grades in elementary school as a preventive measure to avoid desertion, another big problem in middle school.

Keywords : age and grade coverage; timely access; permanence; academic success; educational efficiency; desertion.