Measuring the cost-effectiveness of the Quality Preschool for Ghana (QP4G) program

• In Event: Cost effectiveness analysis for sustainable education policy

Proposal

Enrollment in early childhood education has increased dramatically in Ghana, but the education sector now faces the challenge of ensuring young children learn and develop school readiness skills. Researchers evaluated the impacts of a scalable, in-service training and coaching program for kindergarten teachers called Quality Preschool for Ghana (QP4G), with and without parental awareness meetings, on teacher’s professional well-being, classroom quality, and child learning outcomes. Researchers conducted a cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) of QP4G to determine its value for money in increasing school readiness compared to other early childhood education programs.

During this session, panelists will: (1) present researchers’ approach to collecting and analyzing cost data from the program; (2) discuss results from the CEA, which demonstrate that in-service teacher training is a cost-effective program to improving school readiness in Ghana; (3) compare results to CEAs conducted for other early childhood education programs; and (4) discuss how study partners are leveraging the results of the CEA to incorporate principles of QP4G to teacher trainings around the country.

Authors

• Edward Tsinigo, Innovations for Poverty Action

• Sharon Wolf, University of Pennsylvania