Impacts of Interventions during Early Childhood on Later Outcomes : A Systematic Review

Independent Evaluation Group

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: SKILLS;    INFERENCE;    RISKS;    PERSONALITY;    PEOPLE;   

RP-ID  :  95984

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

In an effort to bridge the evidence gap,the Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) prepared a systematicreview that gathers and analyzes the available impactevaluation evidence in developing countries from 1990 to2013 on whether early childhood interventions shape futureoutcomes. Its purpose is not to supplant existing evidencebut rather to help practitioners understand how evidencefrom impact evaluations supports or challenges beliefs aboutinterventions and can be used to inform development policy.This review aims to answer two questions: (1) What is theevidence of attributable effects on outcomes in primaryschool and beyond from interventions in low- andmiddle-income countries that occur during the earlychildhood period? and (2) How do the post-early childhoodeffects of early childhood interventions vary bysocioeconomic status, gender, age at intervention, and ageat evaluation, particularly during the first 1,000 days fromconception to the childs second birthday and from age threeto primary school enrollment at age five to six? This reportreviews all interventions from developing countries thatoccur during early childhood for which impact evaluationestimates exist for effects observed at primary school ageand older. From an initial search of thousands of studies,the search process which included database searches, handsearches, and snowballing identified more than 500 relevantimpact evaluations written from 1990 to 2015. This reviewcovers six areas or domains of human development: physicaldevelopment, cognitive development, language development,socio-emotional development, schooling outcomes, andemployment and labor market outcomes. These domains arecommonly included in evaluations of early interventionstargeting poor children because they are negatively affectedby early poverty, can benefit from early intervention, andare important for overall well-being or adult productivity.Some outcomes can be measured repeatedly starting from earlychildhood (i.e., height and weight) while others are onlymeasurable later in life (i.e., cognition, schooling, andemployment and labor market status).