Medium-term Protective Effects of Quality Early Childhood Education during and after school closures in Ghana

• In Event: Protective factors for children’s academic progress and outcomes in West Africa

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic led to historically unparalleled global school closures, increasing risks to child development through inadequate access to learning at school and increased poverty and food insecurity (Egger et al., 2021). Robust evidence shows that attending high-quality ECE improves short- and longer-term outcomes for vulnerable children in the United States (Gray-Lobe et al., 2021; McCoy et al., 2017), with similar relations emerging in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) (Wolf, 2019). However, the short- and medium-term effects of high-quality ECE during crises remain unknown.
We examine medium-term impacts of previous exposure to improved quality ECE on learning engagement and outcomes during school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and after children returned to school with two exploratory research questions. Does previous exposure to QP4G:

(1) Increase engagement in educational activities children’s test scores during school closures?
(2) Increase school re-enrollment, social-emotional outcomes, and learning six-months and one-year after children returned to school?

The data come from a longitudinal follow-up of the Quality Preschool for Ghana (QP4G) impact evaluation implemented in the 2015-2016 school year (Wolf et al., 2019). QP4G which was a partnership between Ghana’s Ministry of Education and academic researchers. The goals were to improve preprimary school quality—measured by teacher-child interactions—and children’s school readiness. QP4G was evaluated through a school-randomized trial where schools were assigned to: (a) teacher training only (TT), (b) teacher training plus parental awareness (TTPA), and (c) “ECE business as usual” control. Both treatments led to medium-sized reductions in teacher burnout and improved several dimensions of observed classroom quality. Importantly, while both TT and TTPA treatments improved classroom quality, TTPA counter-acted some improvements in quality as well as impacts on child outcomes.
Since implementation, seven follow-up waves have been collected. This paper will present results from the fifth (October 2020, when schools were closed in Ghana due to the pandemic), sixth (July 2021, six months after schools re-opened), and seventh follow-up waves up (January 2022, one year after schools re-opened).
Findings from the fifth follow-up show that children randomly assigned to the TT condition in 2015 were more likely to engage in RL activities during school closures based on both caregiver and child reports (b=0.15, SE=0.07, p<.05; b=0.17, SE=0.05, p<.01, respectively). There were no statistically significant impacts on literacy or math scores. Preliminary findings from the sixth and seventh follow-ups also positive impacts on literacy outcomes (d = 0.14, p < .10 and d=0.18, p < .05, respectively), but not social competence.
While higher-quality ECE has been shown to support children’s schooling and development years later in both high-income (Yoshikawa et al., 2013) and low-income countries (Yoshikawa & Kabay, 2014), little is known about how ECE may support children in the medium-term during crises. This study provides some of the first evidence of how experimental higher-quality ECE may have shaped children’s learning experiences during school closures. We focus on Ghana and contribute to limited evidence on the impacts of ECE on children in SSA.

Authors

• Sharon Wolf, University of Pennsylvania
  Presenting Author

• Elisabetta Aurino, Imperial College London

• Noelle Suntheimer, University of Pennsylvania

• Edward Tsinigo, Innovations for Poverty Action