We used data from Demographic and Health Surveys and the Mexican Family Life Survey to test how children’s living arrangements were related to their progress through school in countries comprising three-quarters of the population in Latin America and the Caribbean. Our results indicated that family instability presents a challenge for educational progress: Large proportions (23–60 %) lived apart from at least one biological parent, and children in stepfamilies did not show better educational progress than children living with single parents. In some countries, living with other men was associated with worse educational outcomes, and the occasional advantage associated with living with other women was modest. Other adults in the household did not appear to buffer negative effects associated with parental absence.