The role of preschool quality in promoting child development: evidence from rural Indonesia^*

* The authors are listed alphabetically to indicate that this article is a team effort in which all the authors contributed in different ways.

ABSTRACT

This article examines the relationship between preschool quality and children’s early development in a sample of over 7900 children enrolled in 578 preschools in rural Indonesia. Quality was measured by: (1) classroom observations using the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised (ECERS-R); (2) teacher characteristics; and (3) structural characteristics of preschools. Children’s development was measured using the Early Development Instrument (EDI). The article proposes two methodological improvements to preschool quality studies. First, an instrumental variable approach is used to correct for measurement error. Second, ECERS-R is adjusted to the local context by contrasting items with Indonesia’s national preschool standards. Results show that observed classroom quality is a significant and meaningful positive predictor of children’s development once models correct for measurement error and apply a locally-adapted measure of classroom quality. In contrast, teacher characteristics and structural characteristics are not significant predictors of child development, while holding observed classroom quality constant.

KEYWORDS:

• Early Childhood Education and Development (ECED)
• quality
• teachers
• playgroups
• kindergartens
• classrooms
• Indonesia

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Mayla Safuro Lestari Putri and Mulyana for excellent research assistance. We would like to thank Dedy Junaedi, Upik Sabainingrum, Anas Sutisna, Lulus Kusbudiharjo and Mulyana for managing the fieldwork. We are grateful for useful discussions with Rosfita Roesli and comments provided by Harry Patrinos on earlier versions of this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

* The authors are listed alphabetically to indicate that this article is a team effort in which all the authors contributed in different ways.

1. In this article, the terms ‘preschool’ and ‘early childhood education’ are used interchangeably, and refer broadly to organized, center-based early learning environments for children from the ages of three until they enter primary school – usually playgroups and kindergartens.

2. As of late 2014 these standards have been updated. However, at the time data for this study was being collected, the 2009 version of the Indonesia standards were in effect. These are the standards described in this section.

3. It is important to note that while the range of the ECERS-R only goes from 1 to 7 – the differences in quality between a 3 and a 5 are substantial.

4. The sample size for each EDI domain is slightly different. N = 8,348 for physical health, 8317 for social competence, 8306 for emotional maturity, 8319 for language and cognitive development, and 8345 for communication and general knowledge.

5. Sample size for each EDI domain also varies for these 566 centers, going up to N = 7984 for emotional maturity.

6. Please see the discussion on classical errors in independent variables in Wooldridge (2002, 295–296).

7. Note that this strategy corrects for bias due to measurement error, not due to endogeneity of the quality ratings. The parameter estimates should still be interpreted as correlations, not as causal effects of quality.

8. Regression results for Models 1 to 3 with standardized beta coefficients are available upon request.

Additional information

Funding

Data collection was partially funded by the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands through the Dutch Education Support Program Trust Fund [grant number TF056841]. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this article are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the views of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/World Bank and its affiliated organizations, or those of the Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent.