Targeted Poverty Alleviation through Education: Long-term Effect of China’s “One Village One Preschool” Project on Rural Children’s Academic Achievements

Zhao Chen; Chen Si; Cao Yan; Catherine Snow; Lu Mai

doi:10.16382/j.cnki.1000-5560.2020.02.011

Volume 38 Issue 2

Jan. 2020

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Zhao Chen, Chen Si, Cao Yan, Catherine Snow, Lu Mai. Targeted Poverty Alleviation through Education: Long-term Effect of China’s “One Village One Preschool” Project on Rural Children’s Academic Achievements[J]. Journal of East China Normal University (Educational Sciences), 2020, 38(2): 114-125. doi: 10.16382/j.cnki.1000-5560.2020.02.011

Citation:

Zhao Chen, Chen Si, Cao Yan, Catherine Snow, Lu Mai. Targeted Poverty Alleviation through Education: Long-term Effect of China’s “One Village One Preschool” Project on Rural Children’s Academic Achievements[J]. Journal of East China Normal University (Educational Sciences), 2020, 38(2): 114-125. doi: 10.16382/j.cnki.1000-5560.2020.02.011

Citation:

Zhao Chen, Chen Si, Cao Yan, Catherine Snow, Lu Mai. Targeted Poverty Alleviation through Education: Long-term Effect of China’s “One Village One Preschool” Project on Rural Children’s Academic Achievements[J]. Journal of East China Normal University (Educational Sciences), 2020, 38(2): 114-125. doi: 10.16382/j.cnki.1000-5560.2020.02.011

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Targeted Poverty Alleviation through Education: Long-term Effect of China’s “One Village One Preschool” Project on Rural Children’s Academic Achievements

doi: 10.16382/j.cnki.1000-5560.2020.02.011

1.
China Development Research Foundation, Beijing, 100010, China
2.
Institute of Psychology, China Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
3.
Graduate Education School, Harvard University, MA 02138, USA

Available Online: 2020-01-21
Publish Date: 2020-02-01

Abstract

Abstract

In 2009, the China Development Research Foundation launched the government-supported public intervention, One Village One Preschool (OVOP) project, which provided access to early childhood education (ECE) to disadvantaged rural and minority children in central and western rural China. From 2009 to 2018, OVOP established about 2300 centers in ten provinces, enrolling over 170000 rural young children, free of charge for all. We analyzed longitudinal data collected from a sample of 1962 children in one county (comparing OVOP attendees to children with no ECE, private ECE, and public ECE), using an inverse probability weighting approach to reducing selection bias in evaluating the effects of OVOP on children’s academic achievement during the first 5 years of elementary school. We found that children who attended OVOP centers attained higher scores in elementary grades than children who received no ECE or attended private township ECE. However, OVOP children scored lower than children who went to well-resourced public township ECE. In addition, the OVOP children had similar growth rates to public-ECE children; both groups improved more quickly than children in the non-ECE or private-ECE group. We conclude with a discussion of the value of providing low-cost ECE to rural children in China.
- targeted poverty alleviation through education,
- poverty rural areas,
- “One Village One Preschool” project,
- academic achievement

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References(29)

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