Universal early childhood education and care for toddlers and achievement outcomes in middle childhood

The study investigates how universal kindergarten attendance for one- and two-year-olds affects their school performance in Year 5. The researchers specifically looked at whether an early start in kindergarten can reduce the performance gap between children from different socio-economic backgrounds. The study explored how universal access to kindergarten can help promote social equality and enhance children’s academic and developmental opportunities.

The study found that universal kindergarten attendance for one- and two-year-olds had a positive effect on children’s mathematics and reading skills in Year 5. The effect was especially strong among children from families with low levels of education, where the performance gap between those with the highest and lowest-educated parents was reduced by up to 50%. The results show that starting early in kindergarten can be an important strategy for reducing socioeconomic differences in children’s school performance.

The study was based on data from the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa), which was then linked with national registry data on children’s school performance in Year 5. The researchers used fixed-effects regressions and instrumental variables (IV) to analyse the effect of kindergarten attendance at 1.5 years of age. The data set included 102,352 children born between 2002 and 2008.

Zachrisson, H. D., Dearing, E., Borgen, N. T., Sandsør, A. M. J., & Karoly, L. A. (2024). Universal early childhood education and care for toddlers and achievement outcomes in middle childhood. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 17(2), 259–287.

Online year: 2023

Issue year: 2023

Review year: 2023