Breaking the cycle of deprivation: an experimental evaluation of an early childhood intervention

Orla Doyle

No 201217, Working Papers from School of Economics, University College Dublin

Abstract: Deprivation early in life has multiple long term consequences for both the individual and society. An increasing body of evidence finds that targeted, early interventions aimed at at-risk children and their families can reduce socioeconomic inequalities in children’s skills and capabilities. This paper describes a randomised control trial (RCT) evaluation of a five-year preventative programme which aims to improve the school readiness skills of socioeconomically disadvantaged children. The Preparing for Life (PFL) programme is one of the first studies in Ireland to use random assignment to experimentally modify the environment of high risk families and track its impact over time. This paper describes the design and motivation for the study, the randomisation procedure adopted and the baseline data collected. Using Monte Carlo permutation testing, it finds that the randomisation procedure was successful as there are no systematic differences between the treatment and control groups at baseline. This indicates that future analysis of treatment effects over the course of the five year evaluation can be causally attributed to the programme and used to determine the impact of Preparing for Life on children’s school readiness skills.

Keywords: Early childhood intervention; RCT; School readiness; Permutation testing; Early childhood education; Readiness for school; Monte Carlo method (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C93 J13 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ure
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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http://hdl.handle.net/10197/3775 First version, 2012 (application/pdf)

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Working Paper: Breaking the Cycle of Deprivation: An Experimental Evaluation of an Early Childhood Intervention (2012)
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