Is Investment in Preprimary Education Too Low? Lessons from (Quasi) Experimental Evidence across Countries
A large body of evidence suggests sizeable improvements in cognitive and social-emotional skills and subsequent educational attainment following preprimary education interventions as well as increases in earnings later in life. Yet, while the world has nearly reached universal primary education, cov...
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2021
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/929861625060766293/Is-Investment-in-Preprimary-Education-Too-Low-Lessons-from-Quasi-Experimental-Evidence-across-Countries http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35894 |
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okr-10986-358942022-03-30T05:10:40Z Is Investment in Preprimary Education Too Low? Lessons from (Quasi) Experimental Evidence across Countries Holla, Alaka Bendini, Magdalena Dinarte, Lelys Trako, Iva META-REGRESSION COGNITIVE OUTCOME NON-COGNITIVE OUTCOME PRE-PRIMARY EDUCATION A large body of evidence suggests sizeable improvements in cognitive and social-emotional skills and subsequent educational attainment following preprimary education interventions as well as increases in earnings later in life. Yet, while the world has nearly reached universal primary education, coverage of early childhood education is still low in many countries. This study uses a novel global dataset of effect sizes from more than 50 studies conducted in 19 countries to examine measures of school participation, cognitive skills, social-emotional skills, and behavior, both during and after preprimary ages. Estimates from meta-regression analysis suggest both strong demand for preprimary services when offered and significant improvements in children’s cognitive skills (0.15 sd) and their executive functioning, social-emotional learning, and behavior (0.12 sd) during the pre-primary period. Moreover, our meta-analytic results indicate statistically significant persistent advantages (0.07 sd) in each type of skill beyond the preprimary period. Pooled heterogeneous treatment effects also suggest higher gains for disadvantaged children. Lastly, cost-benefit analysis using studies from low- and middle-income countries implies benefit-to-cost ratios ranging between 1.7 and 14.2, suggesting high returns to preprimary investments even in contexts with limited state capacity. 2021-07-01T16:13:53Z 2021-07-01T16:13:53Z 2021-06 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/929861625060766293/Is-Investment-in-Preprimary-Education-Too-Low-Lessons-from-Quasi-Experimental-Evidence-across-Countries http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35894 English Policy Research Working Paper;No. 9723 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper |
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Digital Repository |
| institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
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Digital Repositories |
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World Bank Open Knowledge Repository |
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World Bank |
| language |
English |
| topic |
META-REGRESSION COGNITIVE OUTCOME NON-COGNITIVE OUTCOME PRE-PRIMARY EDUCATION |
| spellingShingle |
META-REGRESSION COGNITIVE OUTCOME NON-COGNITIVE OUTCOME PRE-PRIMARY EDUCATION Holla, Alaka Bendini, Magdalena Dinarte, Lelys Trako, Iva Is Investment in Preprimary Education Too Low? Lessons from (Quasi) Experimental Evidence across Countries |
| relation |
Policy Research Working Paper;No. 9723 |
| description |
A large body of evidence suggests sizeable improvements in cognitive and social-emotional skills and subsequent educational attainment following preprimary education interventions as well as increases in earnings later in life. Yet, while the world has nearly reached universal primary education, coverage of early childhood education is still low in many countries. This study uses a novel global dataset of effect sizes from more than 50 studies conducted in 19 countries to examine measures of school participation, cognitive skills, social-emotional skills, and behavior, both during and after preprimary ages. Estimates from meta-regression analysis suggest both strong demand for preprimary services when offered and significant improvements in children’s cognitive skills (0.15 sd) and their executive functioning, social-emotional learning, and behavior (0.12 sd) during the pre-primary period. Moreover, our meta-analytic results indicate statistically significant persistent advantages (0.07 sd) in each type of skill beyond the preprimary period. Pooled heterogeneous treatment effects also suggest higher gains for disadvantaged children. Lastly, cost-benefit analysis using studies from low- and middle-income countries implies benefit-to-cost ratios ranging between 1.7 and 14.2, suggesting high returns to preprimary investments even in contexts with limited state capacity. |
| format |
Working Paper |
| author |
Holla, Alaka Bendini, Magdalena Dinarte, Lelys Trako, Iva |
| author_facet |
Holla, Alaka Bendini, Magdalena Dinarte, Lelys Trako, Iva |
| author_sort |
Holla, Alaka |
| title |
Is Investment in Preprimary Education Too Low? Lessons from (Quasi) Experimental Evidence across Countries |
| title_short |
Is Investment in Preprimary Education Too Low? Lessons from (Quasi) Experimental Evidence across Countries |
| title_full |
Is Investment in Preprimary Education Too Low? Lessons from (Quasi) Experimental Evidence across Countries |
| title_fullStr |
Is Investment in Preprimary Education Too Low? Lessons from (Quasi) Experimental Evidence across Countries |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Is Investment in Preprimary Education Too Low? Lessons from (Quasi) Experimental Evidence across Countries |
| title_sort |
is investment in preprimary education too low? lessons from (quasi) experimental evidence across countries |
| publisher |
World Bank, Washington, DC |
| publishDate |
2021 |
| url |
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/929861625060766293/Is-Investment-in-Preprimary-Education-Too-Low-Lessons-from-Quasi-Experimental-Evidence-across-Countries http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35894 |
| _version_ |
1764484049340989440 |