Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Approaches to Evaluating Early Childhood Educational Programming in Low- and Middle-Income Countries Discussant: Abbie Raikes

Research suggests that approximately one third of threeand four-year-olds living in lowand middle-income countries are failing to meet basic benchmarks in cognitive or socialemotional development (McCoy et al., 2016). In response to this large need, stakeholders from multiple public and private sectors are increasingly investing in programs targeting children in the first years of their life (Engle et al., 2007; 2011). Early childhood education (ECE) programs are one potentially powerful approach for building children’s cognitive, social, and emotional skills prior to their entry into the formal schooling system and are specifically targeted under Sustainable Development Goal 4. Despite increased investments in ECE globally, evidence on the effectiveness of programs for promoting school readiness outside of high-income countries remains relatively weak, and is primarily based on small observational studies with minimal internal and external validity (Engle et al., 2011; Rao et al., 2014). This panel aims to address this gap by using robust methodological approaches to estimate the impacts of ECE programs in lowand middle-income countries (LMICs). We focus on four distinct programs embedded in four culturally unique settings. Paper 1 presents the results of a randomized control trial of a teacher in-service training and parent educational intervention in peri-urban Ghana, an area in which expansion of ECE programming has been particularly rapid. Paper 2 discusses RCTs of a school readiness program in Lao PDR, emphasizing the challenges of working in communities facing forced relocation. Moving to a national scale, Paper 3 discusses the results of a quasi-experimental study designed to document an effort to scale an early childhood development intervention in Bhutan. Finally, Paper 4 uses a quasi-experimental method to estimate the impacts of different types and doses of ECE programming in a nationally representative sample of Zambian children. All four presentations will emphasize the effects of these various programs on multiple domains of children’s development using a variety of culturally-adapted and developmentallyrelevant measures of early cognitive, social, and emotional outcomes. In addition to discussing the results of these studies, each presentation will emphasize the unique challenges associated with developing and implementing ECE programming in their particular cultural context, as well as potential opportunities for and barriers to scaling. To facilitate collaboration and knowledge sharing, presentations will be led by researchers representing academia, a not-for-profit research and evaluation organization, and an international NGO. Based on these diverse presentations, our discussant will lead the audience in a question and answer session which we hope will stimulate new ideas for the future of ECE in LMICs.