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Extracurricular educational programs and school readiness: evidence from a quasi-experiment with preschool children

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  • Anna Makles

    (University of Wuppertal)

  • Kerstin Schneider

    (University of Wuppertal)

Abstract

This paper adds to the literature on extracurricular early childhood education and child development by exploiting unique data on an educational project in Germany, the Junior University (JU). Utilizing a quasi-experimental study design, we estimate the causal short-run effect of JU enrollment on ability measures and show that attending extra science courses with preschool classes leads to significantly higher school readiness. Attending classes at JU increases school readiness by approximately 2.18 percentage points which corresponds to 1/5 of a standard deviation of the ability score. The result passes various robustness checks.

Suggested Citation

  • Anna Makles & Kerstin Schneider, 2017. "Extracurricular educational programs and school readiness: evidence from a quasi-experiment with preschool children," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 52(4), pages 1181-1204, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:empeco:v:52:y:2017:i:4:d:10.1007_s00181-016-1119-z
    DOI: 10.1007/s00181-016-1119-z
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    Cited by:

    1. Jürges, Hendrik & Makles, Anna M. & Naghavi, Arash & Schneider, Kerstin, 2022. "Melting pot kindergarten: The effect of linguistic diversity in early education," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    2. Anna Makles & Kerstin Schneider, 2016. "Quiet please! Adverse effects of noise on child development," Schumpeter Discussion Papers SDP16002, Universitätsbibliothek Wuppertal, University Library.
    3. Ainoa Aparicio Fenoll & Flavia Coda-Moscarola & Sarah Zaccagni, 2021. "Mathematics Camps: A Gift for Gifted Students," Carlo Alberto Notebooks 647, Collegio Carlo Alberto.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Early childhood education; Extracurricular activities; Early interventions; School readiness;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth

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