Testing the ‘thresholds’ of preschool education quality on child outcomes in China

Abstract

Preschool education has expanded rapidly in recent years China, with much more attention to access than quality of care. This raises raises concerns about whether increased preschool enrollment alone will achieve the goal of improving children’s early learning and development. This paper reports on the quality of preschool education and its associations with child outcomes based on a national-wide representative sample of 2110 children (age 3–6 years) attending 428 classrooms of 193 preschools in eight provinces of China. Analyses tested associations between a Chinese preschool quality measure, Chinese Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (CECERS) and a Chinese measure of early development, Child Developmental Scale of China (CDSC) language, early math, and social skills scores. Results identified quality thresholds such that the CECERS Teaching and Interactions was a stronger predictor of all outcomes in higher than lower quality classrooms. Subgroup analyses indicated that high quality preschool education had significant compensatory effects on rural children’s developmentFindings are used to argue for the need for clearly defined and rigorously implemented national baseline quality standards for preschool education in China, and that high quality preschool education serving rural children should be prioritized to narrow the achievement gap between rural and urban children.