Children’s Early Learning Experiences: Longitudinal Evidence on Effects of Preschool and Home Environments in PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study)

• In Event: “Using the World as an Educational Laboratory”: Merging Educational Effectiveness Research and International Comparative Studies

Abstract

1. Objectives
The study investigates the causal effects of children’s early learning experiences in preschool and home environments on reading achievement at the end of primary school. To identify this effect we draw on international comparative data from the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) and employ a longitudinal fixed effects model on country level.

2. Theoretical Framework
Researchers from various disciplines argue for the importance of early education for later student achievement (e.g. Knudsen, Heckman, Cameron, & Shonkoff, 2006). According to ecological theo-ries of human development the immediate settings in which children grow up –families and pre-schools– provide their primary learning environments. We recently ob-serve an expansion of preschool systems and family literacy programs that aim at promoting students’ reading skills worldwide (e.g. Hannon, 2003; UNESCO, 2006). Research on the long-term effects of such interventions, however, is inconclusive.

3. Methods
We make use of the fact that PIRLS has a longitudinal component on country level and identify the effects of early childhood education within a fixed effects framework. We use international trend data and relate the change in the level of parental engagement in early home literacy activities (EHLA) and the duration of children’s preschool attendance (in years) to reading achievement.

4. Data
We use data from PIRLS 2001, 2006, and 2011 and included 18 countries that participated in all three study cycles and administrated the parent survey. The countries’ average reading achievement is the dependent variable. The independent variables are the countries’ average quality on the PIRLS index Early Home Literacy Activities (EHLA) and the average number of years children spent in preschool. The two indices Home Educational Resources (HER), Parents’ Attitudes Toward Reading (PATR), and students’ average AGE serve as controls.

5. Results
Our analyses reveal a substantial and significant positive effect of EHLA (β =.48, p=.02) but no effect of preschool participation (β =-.02; p=.83) on later student reading achievement. The fixed effects model also shows a substantial positive effect of age. The results from robustness analyses indicate that neither PATR nor HER confound the analyses.

6. Significance of the Study
We demonstrate that international research with a longitudinal component provides a powerful ap-proach to identify causal effects on country level. From a policy perspective, our findings suggests to strengthen parental engagement (e.g. by family literacy programs) but questions the effectiveness of current educational policies that aim at extending preschool systems.

References
Hannon, P. (2003). Family literacy programmes. In N. Hall, J. Larson, & J. Marsh (Eds.), Handbook of early childhood literacy (pp. 99–111). London, England: Sage.
Knudsen, E.I., Heckman, J.J., Cameron, J.L., & Shonkoff, J.P. (2006). Economic, neurobiological, and behavioral perspectives on building America’s future workforce. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 27, 10155–10162.
UNESCO (2006). Strong foundations: Early childhood care and education. Paris, France: UNESCO Publishing.

Authors

• Nina Hogrebe, University of Münster

• Rolf Strietholt, University of Dortmund