Investigating the Differential Effects of Early Child Care and Education in Reducing Gender and Racial Academic Achievement Gaps From Kindergarten to 8th Grade

Abstract

We used the generalized propensity score method to estimate the differential effects of five Early Child Care and Education (ECCE) experiences (Prekindergarten, Head Start, Center-based Child Care, Home-based Child Care, and Parental Care) in reducing math and reading achievement gaps between boys versus girls, Latinx versus Whites, and Blacks versus Whites. Findings revealed differential effects of ECCE in reducing gender and racial achievement gaps. However, results indicated that significant gender and racial gaps still exist despite ECCE experiences and that these gaps widen throughout the elementary and middle school years.

A Practical Guide to Designing Cost-efficient Randomized Experiments in Education Research: From Pilot Studies to Interventions at Scale

“…Of course, the choice of socio-economic status variable is not arbitrary. It is one of the most studied variable in education research that is of interest to policy and practice (e.g., Bulus & Koyuncu, 2021;Dong et al, 2022;Koyuncu et al, 2022;Ozcan & Bulus, 2022). It may be the main research interest or it may be an important variable that should be statistically controlled for.…”