The Role of Preschool Quality in Promoting Child Development : Evidence from Rural Indonesia
This paper reports on the quality of early childhood education in rural Indonesia. On average, the paper finds that centers created under the Indonesia Early Childhood Education and Development Project provide higher quality services than other typ...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2016
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2016/01/25737637/role-preschool-quality-promoting-child-development-evidence-rural-indonesia http://hdl.handle.net/10986/23629 |
| Summary: | This paper reports on the quality of
early childhood education in rural Indonesia. On average,
the paper finds that centers created under the Indonesia
Early Childhood Education and Development Project provide
higher quality services than other types of preschools, as
measured by a comprehensive instrument of preschool quality
based on direct observation of classrooms in session (the
Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised). The paper
also examines the relationship between preschool quality and
childrens early development using three commonly applied
measures of quality: (i) the Early Childhood Environment
Rating Scale-Revised; (ii) teacher characteristics; and
(iii) structural characteristics of preschool services, such
as their size and amount of class time. First, correcting
for measurement error using an instrumental variables
approach, the findings suggest that preschool quality is a
significant and meaningful positive predictor of childrens
developmental outcomes. Second, the findings for teacher
characteristics are mixed, suggesting that policies focused
solely on hiring teachers based on experience and training
will be insufficient to improve childrens learning. Instead,
policies must address the quality of professional
development activities for teachers. Third, the amount of
class time spent in early childhood programs is a
significant positive predictor of children’s developmental
outcomes. This suggests that in rural Indonesia—where early
childhood programs are relatively low dose—children are
likely to benefit from attending longer hours of preschool,
either playgroups or kindergartens. Lastly, the paper
compares items in the Early Childhood Environment Rating
Scale-Revised with Indonesias national minimum service
standards for early childhood education and development, and
finds that the relationship between this alternative,
context-appropriate measure of preschool quality and
children’s development outcomes strongly corroborates the
earlier conclusions. |
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