Addressing Challenges to the Scale-Up of Effective Early Childhood Programs (Poster 1)

• In Event: Promising Scholarship in Education Research: Dissertation Fellows and Their Research

Abstract

This dissertation consists of three inter-related studies that address timely issues regarding the successful scale-up of early childhood programs. Study 1 examines the peer effects of preschool attendance – the effects of having peers who went to preschool (“preschool peers”) in one’s junior high school classroom on student cognitive and noncognitive outcomes. Using experimental data from China and school fixed effects, I found that preschool peers significantly improved students’ educational expectation in 7th grade, which translated to improvements in academic performance and cognitive ability in 8th grade. Study 2 investigates the effects of competition in a local child market (defined as a school district) on provider quality and student 3rd-grade outcomes. Using administrative data of all providers in North Carolina from 2005 to 2018 and two-way fixed effects, I found that competition was significantly associated with higher provider quality and reduced providers' time to improve. However, competition did not affect district-level 3rd-grade reading and math outcomes. Study 3 offers a comprehensive, rigorous evaluation of the impacts of state pre-k programs on Head Start (HS) enrollment and quality. Using Head Start administrative data from 1988 to 2018 and a differences-in-differences approach, I found that the introduction of state pre-k was associated with a statistically significant decrease in HS enrollment of Black children and a large increase in HS capacity to provide full-day 5-day services. State pre-k did not affect HS enrollment of other children (e.g., 3- or 4-year-olds, Hispanic children) and HS staff and children turnover. Taken together, the three studies provide supportive evidence on the promise of large-scale ECE intervention.

Author

• Qing Zhang, Northwestern University