The effect of pre-primary education on primary school performance

Although the theoretical case for universal pre-primary education is strong, the empirical foundation is weak. In this paper, we contribute to the empirical case by investigating the effect of a large expansion of universal pre-primary education on subsequent primary school performance in Argentina. We estimate that one year of preprimary school increases average third grade test scores by 8 percent of a mean or by 23 percent of the standard deviation of the distribution of test scores. We also find that preprimary school attendance positively affects student’s self-control in the third grade as measured by behaviors such as attention, effort, class participation, and discipline. * Samuel Berlinski, Department of Economics, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK, Tel: (44-20) 7679-5847, [email protected]. Sebastian Galiani, Universidad de San Andres, Vito Dumas 284, (B1644BID) Victoria, Provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tel: (54-11) 4725-7053, [email protected]. Paul Gertler, Haas Business School, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720-1900, US, Tel: (510) 642-1418, [email protected]. We thank Pedro Carneiro, Ernesto Schargrodsky, Steve Pischke and seminar participants at Fundacion Ramon Areces Scientific Meeting, LACEA, Universidad de Chile, Universidad de Montevideo, Universidad de San Andres, Universita di Padova, UC Berkeley, and Washington University in St. Louis for useful comments. We also thank Damián Bonari, Alfredo Dato, Irene Oiberman and Juan Sanguinetti for their contribution to our understanding of the program and for providing us with data.