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Representative studies of quality of ECE and child development in Colombia and Peru

Wed, March 28, 11:30am to 1:00pm, Fiesta Inn Centro Histórico, Floor: Lobby Floor, Room D

Proposal

Early childhood education (ECE) has long-term effects only when implemented at high levels of quality. However, measurement of quality at large scale and embedding such measures into national monitoring systems has been challenging. The global Measuring Early Learning and Quality Outcomes project, an ongoing initiative of UNESCO, the World Bank and the Brookings Institution (UNESCO, 2017), has been one effort to address this need.

We present data from two Latin American countries – Colombia and Peru –concerning quality of ECE and child development. These studies are part of efforts to implement the first nationally representative studies of observed ECE quality and direct ECD assessments in these countries. The quality measures used are based on MELQO but adapted for country-specific policy and sociocultural contexts.

Study 1: Colombia. In a regionally representative sample of 186 classrooms in 101 centers, with a total of over 1,100 children, Colombian partners ICFES with input from the Ministerio de Educación Nacional and the Universidad de los Andes collected an observational measure of classroom / program quality. The measure included the physical environment (including the physical risks present, as well as the presence of learning materials in classrooms and the program); pedagogical quality (the quality of interactions between teachers and students); and exploring content (teachers’ specific activities to promote early artistic, language, spatial and quantitative skills, and scientific thinking). Direct child assessments measured child social, spatial, executive function, and language skills. Surveys of teachers assessed approaches to learning, positive behavior and externalizing behaviors.

Following IRT and both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses to establish reliable scales of these constructs, multi-level regression models with random effects for classrooms and schools predicted the child outcomes from quality measures. Predictors included covariates; structural quality (e.g., teacher education and years of teaching in early childhood; physical environment; learning materials); and process quality (pedagogical quality and exploring content).

One unit increase in classroom pedagogical quality (out of a four-point scale) was associated with children scoring 6.6 % higher on a spatial skills scale and 9.2 % higher score on a social skills scale (magnitudes of association comparable to prior large-scale studies in Ecuador and Chile). The use of print materials in the classroom was associated with children scoring 6% higher on a scale of language skills. Artistic expression instruction in the classroom was associated with teachers reporting children having externalizing behaviors at a 4.2% lower rate. For teachers, having an additional year of teaching young children was associated with .33 % higher executive function skills and .38 % language skills among children.

Study 2: Peru. In late 2017, a nationally representative study of children in two systems of ECE – public and private centers – is being collected in 400 centers (200 centers for each modality) and a sample of 3,200 children. The measure of quality is an adapted version of the Colombian measure, and the child development measure is virtually identical to that administered in the Colombian study. Initial descriptive results will be presented of quality and early childhood development.

Table 1. Multi-level Regressions Predicting Child Development Outcomes from Quality in Colombia [not showing covariates]
Note: All use random effects for classroom and center.
Controlling for 19 predictors.
Pedagogical quality Use of Print Materials Artistic Expression Instruction # of years teaching ECE
Coef. (SE) Coef. (SE) Coef. (SE) Coef. (SE)
Direct Child Assessment
Spatial Skills 0.066(0.024)*** 0.036(0.019) -0.011(0.020) 0.001(0.001)
Social Skills 0.092(0.039)** 0.033(0.031) -0.011(0.032) 0.003(0.002)
Executive Function Skills 0.037(0.029) 0.045(0.024) 0.009(0.024) 0.003(0.002)**
Language Skills 0.055(0.028)* 0.060(0.023)*** -0.018(0.024) 0.004(0.001)**
Teacher-reports
Approaches to Learning 0.024(0.030) 0.028(0.024) 0.010(0.025) -0.001(0.002)
Positive Behaviors 0.018(0.025) 0.034(0.020) 0.024(0.021) 0.001(0.001)
Externalizing Behaviors -0.010(0.024) 0.000(0.020) -0.042(0.019)** 0.000(0.001)

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