Do increases in national-level preschool enrollment increase student achievement? Evidence from international assessments

Rolf Strietholt, Nina Hogrebe and Henrik Daae Zachrisson

International Journal of Educational Development, 2020, vol. 79, issue C

Abstract: The main purpose of the study is to analyze whether globally observed trends towards preschool expansion have impacted student achievement in primary and secondary school. We use data from multiple study cycles of two international large-scale assessments that have a longitudinal component at the country level—PIRLS and PISA—and combine these data with a country-level measure of preschool enrollment rates as the main explanatory variable. Employing a multilevel regression with fixed effects for countries and years, we find that changes in preschool enrollment are unrelated to changes in average student achievement. Even after controlling for covariates on the individual and country levels, we do not find any support for the policy expectation that expanding preschool enrollment per se leads to better student achievement on country level.

Keywords: Academic achievement; Comparative analysis; Early childhood policies; Preschool enrollment; International panel data (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:injoed:v:79:y:2020:i:c:s0738059320304466

DOI: 10.1016/j.ijedudev.2020.102287

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