Health Equity: Center-Based Early Childhood Education

CDC

An Evidence-Based Practice

Description

Center-based early childhood education programs aim to improve the cognitive or social development of children ages 3 or 4 years.

-Programs must include an educational component that addresses one or more of the following: literacy, numeracy, cognitive development, socio-emotional development, and motor skills.
-Programs may offer additional components including recreation, meals, health care, parental supports, and social services.
-Programs may enroll children before they are 3 years of age.

Impact

The Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF) recommends center-based early childhood education programs (ECE) to improve educational outcomes that are associated with long-term health as well as social- and health-related outcomes. Economic evidence indicates there is a positive return on investment in early childhood education. The benefits from students' future earnings gains alone exceed program costs.

If targeted to low-income or racial and ethnic minority communities, ECE programs are likely to reduce educational achievement gaps, improve the health of these student populations, and promote health equity.

Results / Accomplishments

Education-related outcomes:
-Test scores: mean increase of 0.29 standard deviations (27 study arms)
-High school graduation: mean increase of 0.20 standard deviations (7 study arms)
-Grade retention (in which children are held back from the next grade because they have not succeeded in required learning): mean decrease of 0.23 standard deviations (12 study arms)
-Assignment to special education (in which children are taken out of the standard learning track and assigned to receive extra attention because of learning difficulties): mean decrease of 0.28 standard deviations (6 study arms)

Social- and Health-related outcomes:
-Crime rates: mean decrease of 0.23 standard deviations (5 study arms)
-Teen birth rates: mean decrease of 0.46 standard deviations (3 study arms)
-Self-Regulation: mean increase of 0.21 standard deviations (5 study arms)
-Emotional development: mean increase of 0.04 standard deviations (7 study arms)

About this Promising Practice

Primary Contact
The Community Guide
1600 Clifton Rd, NE
MS V25-5
Atlanta, GA 30329
(404) 498-1827
communityguide@cdc.gov
https://www.thecommunityguide.org/
Topics
Education / Childcare & Early Childhood Education
For more details
https://www.thecommunityguide.org/findings/social-...

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Related Content for: Health Equity: Center-Based Early Childhood Education

An Evidence-Based Practice meets the following HCI criteria:

  1. The program description includes at a minimum: the sponsoring organization, program goals, program implementation steps, and outcomes that have demonstrated program success in achieving the program goal in one or more localities.
  2. The results from an evaluation of the program include quantitative measures showing improvement in the outcome(s) of interest after the implementation of the program (i.e. increase in smoking cessation, not just the delivery of a smoking cessation program). The outcome measure(s) is/are compared at relevant time periods before and after the intervention or program implementation. Alternatively, the evaluation study compares the outcome(s) between an intervention group and an appropriate control group.
  3. The study is of peer-review quality and presents numbers in a scientific manner; measurements of precision and reliability are included (e.g. confidence intervals, standard errors), results from statistical tests show a significant difference or change in the outcome measure(s), and relevant point estimates and p-values are presented. Note: if the results from an evaluation of a program are presented in a scientific manner and the outcome measure is improved compared to the baseline measurement or the control group but the difference is not statistically significant, the practice is classified as effective and not evidence-based.