Guatemala has no official MINEDUC school ranking, and the Ministry says so in writing. Its statement is linked from the school-results search screen. This guide explains how to read the lists already circulating: what each measures, how its author selected schools, the year it refers to, and what it leaves out.
Quick summary: MINEDUC does not produce school rankings and says third-party lists are neither official nor institutionally endorsed. It publishes the percentage of students reaching Logro (achievement) at each school. That percentage is not a grade: it is the share reaching Satisfactorio (satisfactory) or Excelente (excellent). MINEDUC warns against simple averages that ignore school conditions, student numbers and the differences between Mathematics and Reading. The national figures below are from Graduandos 2025, published by Digeduca in November 2025.
What MINEDUC publishes, and what it does not
The Ministry of Education publishes a statement from the Dirección General de Evaluación e Investigación Educativa (Digeduca), titled Sobre los rankings o listas de ordenamiento de mejores o peores establecimientos (On rankings or ordered lists of better or worse schools). It states:
El Ministerio de Educación (Mineduc) no elabora rankings ni listados de ordenamiento sobre mejores establecimientos, debido a que es insuficiente tomar en cuenta el porcentaje de estudiantes que alcanzó o no el Logro para decidir si un centro educativo es mejor. Es necesario considerar que las condiciones de los establecimientos educativos que se van a comparar sean las mismas para evitar parámetros injustos.
[The Ministry of Education (Mineduc) does not produce rankings or ordered lists of the best schools, because the percentage of students who did or did not reach Logro is insufficient to decide whether a school is better. The conditions of the schools being compared must be the same to avoid unfair comparisons.]
On lists that third parties produce using its public data:
Debido a que el Mineduc publica la información sobre el porcentaje de estudiantes que alcanza el Logro en cada establecimiento educativo y que cualquier persona puede obtener esos datos, surgen rankings elaborados por instituciones o personas particulares. Estos ordenamientos incluso pueden variar entre sí, según los criterios utilizados por el autor para calcularlos. Quien elabore y publique listados de «mejores o peores», rankings, ordenamientos o similares, también debe informar los criterios que utilizó para analizar la información, así como asumir la responsabilidad de ese material, que no es oficial ni tiene aval institucional.
[Because Mineduc publishes the percentage of students reaching Logro at each school and anyone can obtain those data, private individuals or institutions produce rankings. These lists can differ according to the criteria their authors use. Anyone publishing lists of better or worse schools, rankings or similar orderings must explain the criteria used and take responsibility for material that is neither official nor institutionally endorsed.]
The Ministry does not say that lists are prohibited or that its data are bad. It asks anyone publishing a list to explain their criteria and makes clear that the list is neither official nor institutionally endorsed. This guide applies that distinction to the lists that circulate.
You can consult these official tools:
- The school report for the Graduandos assessment on Digeduca’s portal. Search by school name or by school code.
- The student report, a separate tool searched by personal code or assessment code. Its year-selection screen lists 2025 as its newest option.
- MINEDUC’s register of authorized schools, which lets you search by department, municipality, name or code and filter by educational level, sector, plan and modalidad (instructional modality). The register checks authorization, rather than measuring educational quality.
The school-results screen offers individual searches. That interface alone does not establish whether bulk data are available elsewhere.
What each list measures, and what it leaves out
Compare each list with the selection criteria its author actually declared:
| List | Publisher | What it actually measures | Author’s stated criteria | Year or scope | Official? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| School report (Graduandos) | MINEDUC / Digeduca | Students’ Logro percentages, as described in MINEDUC’s statement | Search by school name or code, rather than a ranked list | Linked search resources refer to 2024 | Official source; not a ranking |
| Register of authorized schools | MINEDUC | Authorization to provide educational services | Administrative search by location, name or code, with educational-level and other filters | School authorization | Official register; not a quality score |
| News article on schools with the best results | Soy502 | Results within a geographic and school-size selection | Private schools in the metropolitan area with more than ten students assessed | Article published 12 February 2019 | No |
| Separate Reading, Mathematics and combined lists in another article by the same outlet | Soy502 | Different selections from assessment results | Metropolitan-area schools presenting at least three students; 100% in Reading, 80% or more in Mathematics, or 85% or more in the average of both | Article published 9 December 2019; describes 2019 results | No |
| AASCA membership / accrediting-agency directory | AASCA | Member schools and their named accrediting agencies | Membership directory, with an accrediting-agency field | Institutional membership and accreditation information | AASCA’s directory, rather than a MINEDUC assessment ranking |
The two news articles were published in 2019. Their metropolitan-area selection covered Guatemala City, Mixco, Villa Nueva, Santa Catarina Pinula, San José Pinula and Fraijanes. Changing the criteria changes the list: the December article selected schools separately for Reading, Mathematics and an average of both tests.
That combined list also illustrates the simple averaging MINEDUC warns about in the next section.
Logro is not a grade
The official definition is:
Logro: es la categoría en la que se ubican los estudiantes que alcanzan los niveles de desempeño Satisfactorio y Excelente en las distintas pruebas de evaluación.
[Logro is the category for students who reach the Satisfactorio and Excelente performance levels in the different assessments.]
Its counterpart is:
No Logro: es la categoría en la que se ubican los estudiantes que no alcanzan el Logro, ya que sus resultados se encuentran en los niveles de desempeño Insatisfactorio y Debe Mejorar.
[No Logro is the category for students who do not reach Logro because their results fall within Insatisfactorio and Debe Mejorar.]
The percentage tells you how many students reached those performance levels. It does not give the school a test grade or a class average. MINEDUC explicitly warns against simple averages:
El Mineduc sugiere evitar el cálculo de promedios simples en los que no se toma en cuenta factores asociados al aprendizaje, cantidad de estudiantes por establecimiento y el hecho de que las evaluaciones de Matemática y Lectura son distintas. Estos promedios simples son fácilmente confundidos con puntuaciones que aparentan corresponder a las calificaciones que obtienen los estudiantes en las asignaturas que cursan. Esto es un error, ya que los porcentajes publicados conciernen a la cantidad de estudiantes que alcanzó el Logro y no al punteo o calificación obtenida en la prueba.
[Mineduc suggests avoiding simple averages that do not account for factors associated with learning, the number of students per school, and the fact that Mathematics and Reading are different assessments. These averages are easily confused with scores resembling subject grades. That is an error: the published percentages concern the number of students reaching Logro, rather than the score or grade obtained in the assessment.]
The combined list described above used 85% or more as its threshold for an average of both assessments. MINEDUC’s caution matters here: the tests are different, the percentages are not grades, and the number of students assessed at each school matters.
The Ministry adds this warning about what a test can tell you:
Existen varios factores que inciden en el resultado obtenido por los estudiantes en las pruebas. Además, es importante recordar que las evaluaciones proporcionan un indicador, pero este abarca solo una dimensión de la calidad educativa, por lo cual es necesario tomar en cuenta otros indicadores.
[Several factors affect students’ assessment results. Assessments provide an indicator covering only one dimension of educational quality, so other indicators must also be considered.]
National figures: Graduandos 2025
Digeduca describes the assessment as follows:
El Ministerio de Educación realizó la evaluación Graduandos 2025 en computadora, mediante la cual se evaluó los conocimientos y las habilidades en las áreas de Lectura y Matemáticas, como competencias básicas para la vida que debe tener cualquier estudiante que egresa del Sistema Educativo Nacional.
[The Ministry of Education administered the computer-based Graduandos 2025 assessment to evaluate knowledge and skills in Reading and Mathematics as basic life competencies for students leaving the national education system.]
It assessed 147,199 graduating students at 4,686 schools. Of the participating schools, 87% were urban and 13% rural; 74% followed the daily plan and 26% the weekend and distance-learning plans.
Graduandos 2025 (Digeduca, November 2025): national results
| Performance level | Reading | Mathematics |
|---|---|---|
| Logro (Satisfactorio + Excelente) | 35% | 16% |
| Debe Mejorar (needs improvement) | 29% | 33% |
| Insatisfactorio (unsatisfactory) | 36% | 51% |
Logro by sector: Graduandos 2025 (Digeduca, November 2025)
| Sector | Reading | Mathematics |
|---|---|---|
| Private | 38% | 19% |
| Public | 28% | 9% |
| Por Cooperativa (cooperative) | 24% | 9% |
| Municipal | 22% | 5% |
These figures are the basis for the argument that the private sector performs better, and they need the caution MINEDUC describes: comparing sectors without equalizing schools’ conditions risks an unfair comparison. Also, 74% of the graduating students assessed studied in the private sector. Private-school students were the majority of this assessment population.
Logro by educational track, Graduandos 2025: Bachillerato (general upper-secondary track), 35% in Reading and 17% in Mathematics; Perito (technical or vocational track), 37% and 15%; Magisterio (teacher-training track), 33% and 13%; Secretariado (secretarial track), 26% and 6%.
These data correspond to the regular assessment, as the publication notes: Datos correspondientes a la evaluación ordinaria.
Source: Digeduca’s Graduandos 2025 results.
Your department, rather than the national figure
A national percentage does not describe an individual student, and the differences between departments are substantial. In several cases they exceed the differences between sectors.
Logro percentages by department: Graduandos 2025 (Digeduca, November 2025)
| Department | Reading | Mathematics |
|---|---|---|
| Alta Verapaz | 28% | 17% |
| Baja Verapaz | 26% | 9% |
| Chimaltenango | 42% | 28% |
| Chiquimula | 36% | 9% |
| Ciudad Capital | 44% | 19% |
| El Progreso | 28% | 18% |
| Escuintla | 26% | 15% |
| Guatemala | 42% | 15% |
| Huehuetenango | 33% | 17% |
| Izabal | 26% | 9% |
| Jalapa | 24% | 10% |
| Jutiapa | 21% | 7% |
| Petén | 29% | 17% |
| Quetzaltenango | 39% | 19% |
| Quiché | 28% | 16% |
| Retalhuleu | 24% | 12% |
| Sacatepéquez | 44% | 12% |
| San Marcos | 36% | 27% |
| Santa Rosa | 24% | 7% |
| Sololá | 33% | 15% |
| Suchitepéquez | 27% | 17% |
| Totonicapán | 38% | 13% |
| Zacapa | 25% | 8% |
San Marcos (27%) and Chimaltenango (28%) exceeded Ciudad Capital (19%) in Mathematics, while Sacatepéquez matched Ciudad Capital in Reading (44%) but recorded 12% in Mathematics. The same department can perform strongly in one assessment and less strongly in the other; averaging them hides that distinction.
What a ranking leaves out
The same publication describes the students assessed, providing context that an ordered list leaves out:
- 43% studied and worked.
- 26% had repeated at least one grade.
- 92% had attended pre-primary education.
- 75% were aged 18 or younger when assessed.
- 35% of mothers and 37% of fathers had completed ciclo diversificado (upper-secondary education) or higher education.
A school whose students work at night and one whose students do not face different conditions. Putting them in a single ordered column obscures that context.
How to check ONE school
With no official ranking to consult, here is a practical sequence:
- Get the school’s MINEDUC code. Use the register of authorized schools to check the educational services it is authorized to provide. A school can have different codes for its authorized level, plan or session. For upper-secondary qualifications, select Diversificado to see its authorized courses. If authorization for the level you need cannot be established, resolve that before proceeding.
- Search Digeduca’s school report, by name or code, and record the Reading and Mathematics Logro percentages. Remember what they mean: students reaching Satisfactorio or Excelente, rather than a grade.
- Look at progress over time, rather than a position. In the December news article, a researcher at the Centro de Investigaciones Económicas Nacionales recommended checking whether schools improve year after year. Sustained improvement tells you something that a single historical position cannot.
- Check membership and accreditation separately from assessment results. AASCA’s school directory names accrediting agencies; it does not give the school’s national assessment result. Our international schools in Guatemala City guide covers the international-school options.
- Check what the word international means for the school you are considering. Ask about its curriculum and verify any claimed accreditation with the relevant organization. Use the international-schools guide to help frame those checks.
What we will not publish, and why
We will not publish a ranking of Guatemalan schools. The Ministry producing the data explains why comparisons need equivalent school conditions, why these percentages are not grades, and why third-party lists have no official or institutional endorsement. Our own list would have the same limitation. An ordered table could imply precision that the data do not justify.
We will not repeat third-party positions, present a historical list as a current assessment, or call a list official when MINEDUC explicitly says it is not.
Instead, we explain what each supported list measures, how it was assembled, its date, and how you can check the school that matters to your family. The Ministry closes its statement with this:
La evaluación es un elemento indispensable para la mejora de la calidad educativa. Por tanto, es necesario hacer uso de los resultados para incidir positivamente en los procesos de enseñanza y aprendizaje.
[Assessment is an essential element in improving educational quality. Results must therefore be used to have a positive effect on teaching and learning.]
Sources.
- MINEDUC / Digeduca: Sobre los rankings o listas de ordenamiento de mejores o peores establecimientos, publication date not stated
- MINEDUC / Digeduca: Resultados de la evaluación Graduandos 2025, November 2025
- MINEDUC: Dirección General de Evaluación e Investigación Educativa (Digeduca), publication date not stated
- MINEDUC / Digeduca: Graduandos results portal, publication date not stated
- MINEDUC: Register of authorized schools, publication date not stated
- AASCA: Guatemala directory, publication date not stated
The news lists are described by their declared criteria, without reproducing their positions.
Related guides
- International schools in Guatemala City
- Bilingual schools near Antigua
- Enrolling a foreign child in a Guatemalan school: the procedure, document by document
- Returning to Guatemala: school enrollment: foreign-study equivalencies for diaspora families
- Recognition of a foreign qualification (Spanish)
- The MINEDUC portal: where to find each system and procedure
- MINEDUC school calendar
- Education in Guatemala
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there an official school ranking in Guatemala?
No. The Ministry of Education states that it does not produce rankings or ordered lists of the best schools, and warns that third-party lists are neither official nor institutionally endorsed. MINEDUC publishes the percentage of students reaching Logro at each school; its school report lets you search by school name or code.
Where do the rankings that circulate come from?
From those public percentages. Each author selects schools differently: one news article covered private schools in the metropolitan area with more than ten students assessed; another article by the same outlet published separate lists for Reading, Mathematics and an average of both. Changing the criteria changes the list.
What does the percentage MINEDUC publishes mean?
It is the percentage of students reaching Logro (achievement): the Satisfactorio or Excelente performance levels. It is neither a grade nor a test score. MINEDUC warns against confusing it with a grade and against simple averages that ignore differences between Mathematics and Reading, school size and factors associated with learning.
What national results does this guide cover?
Graduandos 2025, published by Digeduca in November 2025. Nationally, 35% reached Logro in Reading and 16% in Mathematics. These figures describe that assessment.
Are private schools better than public schools?
In Graduandos 2025, private schools recorded higher Logro percentages than public schools: 19% versus 9% in Mathematics, and 38% versus 28% in Reading. That comparison does not equalize school conditions, which is precisely MINEDUC’s warning. In the same assessment, 43% of students studied and worked, and 26% had repeated at least one grade: a ranking leaves out that context.
How do I check a particular school?
Search Digeduca’s school report by school name or MINEDUC code, and look at changes over time rather than a position on a list. Check authorization separately in MINEDUC’s school register, and check any claimed accreditation with the body that grants it.
Is international accreditation the same as a good result?
Treat accreditation and assessment results as separate checks. AASCA’s directory lists member schools and their accrediting agencies; Digeduca reports student assessment results. A directory entry does not give you the school’s national assessment result.
