As mentioned earlier, ECCE research is a relatively new phenomenon, and there is little evidence regarding how effective
Chilean ECCE programs are. The present study aims to address this
need by estimating the long-term effects of public ECCE programs
on students’ academic achievements. An ideal evaluation would
assess an early childhood program’s contributions to later academic achievement by comparing two identical individuals, one
who received a treatment and one who did not, and observe their
outcome differences over time. More specifically, we are interested
in the counterfactual, i.e., what would have happened to the child
without preschool if he/she had received the preschool treatment.
Ideally, we would construct a true experiment, such as the one carried out to assess the impact of the Perry Preschool study and the
Abecedarian projects (Barnett, 1995; Campbell et al., 2001). However, experimental designs are not always possible, as they are
costly and complicated especially when trying to assess the effects
of large-scale public programs tailored to all low SES children.
When experiments are not possible ex-post facto, well-constructed
and implemented quasi-experimental designs are the second-best
option (Gelman & Hill, 2007). The present study addresses the question: are public ECCE programs in Chile an effective educational
tool to enhance the academic performance of children from lowincome backgrounds, helping thereby to bridge the achievement
gap among children from different socioeconomic groups
As mentioned earlier, ECCE research is a relatively new phenomenon, and there is little evidence regarding how effectiveChilean ECCE programs are. The present study aims to address thisneed by estimating the long-term effects of public ECCE programson students’ academic achievements. An ideal evaluation wouldassess an early childhood program’s contributions to later academic achievement by comparing two identical individuals, onewho received a treatment and one who did not, and observe theiroutcome differences over time. More specifically, we are interestedin the counterfactual, i.e., what would have happened to the childwithout preschool if he/she had received the preschool treatment.Ideally, we would construct a true experiment, such as the one carried out to assess the impact of the Perry Preschool study and theAbecedarian projects (Barnett, 1995; Campbell et al., 2001). However, experimental designs are not always possible, as they arecostly and complicated especially when trying to assess the effectsof large-scale public programs tailored to all low SES children.When experiments are not possible ex-post facto, well-constructedand implemented quasi-experimental designs are the second-bestoption (Gelman & Hill, 2007). The present study addresses the question: are public ECCE programs in Chile an effective educationaltool to enhance the academic performance of children from lowincome backgrounds, helping thereby to bridge the achievementgap among children from different socioeconomic groups
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