The Impact of a Prototypical Home Visiting Program on Child Skills

Jin Zhou, James Heckman, Bei Liu and Mai Lu

Journal of Labor Economics, 2026, vol. 44, issue 1, 119 - 148

Abstract: This paper develops and applies a new framework for estimating the causal impacts on child skills and the mechanisms producing these impacts using data from a large-scale randomized controlled study of a widely evaluated early-childhood home visiting program. We compare estimates from procedures that report treatment effects as unweighted averages of item scores with estimates adjusting for item difficulties. We generalize item response theory and Rasch model frameworks and estimate vectors of individual-level latent skills, comparing treatment and control group skills and their impacts on test scores. The program substantially improves multiple skills.

Date: 2026
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