Long-term contribution of early childhood education to children's performance - evidence from New Zealand

Evidence from the longitudinal Competent Children project is provided which shows the continuing contribution of early childhood education to children's competencies at age 10.  Among the New Zealand sample, children had higher average scores if they had 3 or more years of early childhood education in general.  The quality of their final early childhood education centre, particularly related to teacher-child interaction, also continued to show enduring associations with children's performance.  The socio-economic mix of the children's final early childhood education centre also had a bearing on their competency levels 5 years later.

The full journal article is published in:
International Journal of Early Years Education, 11 (1), 2003. p. 69-78