Earthquake Shocks: Estimating the Effects of the 2010 Chilean Earthquake on Preschool Children’s Developmental Outcomes

• In Event: International Early Childhood Issues

Abstract

Using data from the evaluation of an early childhood education program, this study employs a propensity score analyses to estimate the short- term effects of the 2010 earthquake on Chilean preschool children’s cognitive outcomes. We find that the earthquake had a negative significant impact on children’s language and literacy outcomes including vocabulary level and text comprehension, word letter identification and emergent writing, with effect sizes ranging from -0.06 to -0.21. In contrast, the earthquake had no measurable impact on children’s executive function or emergent mathematics. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.

Authors

• Celia Gomez, Harvard University

• Hirokazu Yoshikawa, New York University