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

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  • Makles, Anna
  • Schneider, Kerstin

Abstract

The 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). By utilizing a quasi-experimental study design we estimate the causal short-term effect of JU enrollment and show that attending JU significantly leads to higher school readiness, i.e. higher cognitive and non-cognitive abilities. Although the effect of attending JU on school readiness is quite small, the results are plausible and pass various robustness checks.

Suggested Citation

  • Makles, Anna & Schneider, Kerstin, 2014. "Extracurricular educational programs and school readiness: Evidence from a quasi-experiment with preschool children," VfS Annual Conference 2014 (Hamburg): Evidence-based Economic Policy 100631, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:vfsc14:100631
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    Cited by:

    1. Anna Makles & Kerstin Schneider, 2016. "Quiet Please! Adverse Effects of Noise on Child Development," CESifo Working Paper Series 6281, CESifo.
    2. Fenoll, Ainoa Aparicio & Moscarola, Flavia Coda & Zaccagni, Sarah, 2021. "Mathematics camps: A gift for gifted students?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 191(C), pages 738-751.
    3. 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).

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    More about this item

    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

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