Why ECD Essential for FTI

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Why ECD Essential for FTI

• Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan
• UK Study Tour Delegation
• April 21, 2008
• Mary Eming Young, MD DrPH
• World Bank
• Human Development Network

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07-003
Economist Magazine The Importance of Neuroscience
September 21, 2006 Learning Without Learning
(Epigenetics) October 7, 2006 A Survey of
Talent December 23, 2006 A Survey of the
Brain June 14, 2007 RNA - Really New Advances
(microRNA)
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Competition for Talents in Emerging Markets
Education vs. Learning Expected Abilities

• Industrial
• Special skills
• Planning implementation
• Navigating the bureaucracy
• Following the heritage
• Blue collars

• Post-industrial
• Communications
• Teamwork
• Human relations
• Problem-solving
• Design innovation
• Personal responsibility
• Self-management
• Ethics, values, principles
• Knowledge workers

Source Cheng, Kai-ming, Education versus
Learning the Post-Industrial Challenge,
presentation at the World Bank Human Development
Forum, 2006
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Mean Reading Literacy of 15-year-olds
Source OECD, UNESCO (2003) Literacy skills for
the world of tomorrow, Fig. 2.5, p.76
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Level 3
Considered minimum for coping with the demands of
every day life and work in a complex advanced
society.
OECD, 2000
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Literacy- Percentage of Students at Proficiency
Reading Level PISA 2000
  Source OECD (2003) Literacy Skills for the
World of Tomorrow Further Results from PISA
2000 p 247
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Findings from Neuroscience Early Experiences
Shape
Brain architectureNeurochemistryGene expression
Prerequisite for economic productivity in
adulthood
Cognitive Emotional Social Behavior
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Window of Opportunity - ECD
Language
Sensing
Pathways
Higher
Cognitive Function
(vision, hearing)
9
0
1
4
8
12
16
3
6
-3
-6
Months
Years
Conception
AGE
C. Nelson, in From Neurons to Neighborhoods, 2000
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Disparities in Early Vocabulary Growth
1200
College Educated Parents
Working Class Parents
600
Cumulative Vocabulary (Words)
Welfare Parents
200
16 mos.
24 mos.
36 mos.
Childs Age (Months)
Source Hart Risley (1995) Slide by The
National Scientific Council on the Developing
Child
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Children who start behind stay behind Learning
gaps are set early in lifeAcademic Abilities of
Entering Kindergartens by Family Income
Source Schulman, K., and W. S. Barnett. 2005.
The Benefits of Prekindergarten for Middle-Income
Children. NIEER Policy Report. New Brunswick,
N.J. National Institute for Early Education
Research, Rutgers, The State University of New
Jersey.
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Strengthening the FTI with ECD

• Why FTI and ECD
• What We Know from Current Plans
• Analysis Which Countries are Ready to Scale up
  ECD
• Recommendations So What do We Do?

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1. ECD is an essential step to ensuring education
success
Education

• Cognitive development
• Nutrition
• Health
• Social development

• Higher incomes
• Better personal and family health
• Social cohesion
• Poverty reduction
• Reduced fertility
• Crime reduction

E C D

• Earlier schooling
• Better schooling
• More schooling

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Evidence ECD Contributes to PCR/UPC

• Recent meta-studies/analysis highlight relevance
  of ECD for primary education and lifelong
  learning
• ECD is a determinant of learning outcomes (Vegas
  Petrow 2007)
• Quality and Quantity of Education in primary not
  enough for learning outcomes and economic growth
  (Hanushek WoBman 2006)
• Early childhood matters and is a critical
  contributor to other EFA goals and to the MDGs
  (EFA GMR 2007)
• ECD contributes to improved educational outcomes
  in developing countries (Lancet Series on Child
  Development 2007)

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Evidence ECD Boosts Schooling outcomes

• Evidence from the developing world ECD
  participation contributes to
• Age appropriate enrolment in Gr1
• Lower repetition and drop out rates Save the
  Children (2003)
• Higher school attainment completion Kagitcibasi
  et al (2001) Berlinski, Galiani and Manacorda
  (2006)
• Improved achievement Berlinski, Gertler and
  Galiani (2006)
• Higher participation of girls in school freeing
  girls to attend school
• Affect students behavioral characteristics such
  as attention, self esteem Berlinski, Gertler and
  Galiani (2006)

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Evidence ECD Boosts Outcomes Beyond School

• Evidence from the developing world ECD
  participation contributes to
• Freeing women to intensify productive labor
• Provide local employment and strengthen
  engagement in education
• Employ skilled teachers who cannot qualify for
  certification at theprimary level, thus getting
  great value for the investment

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ECD is necessary to achieve universal primary
completion

• ECD positively affects inefficient flow of
  students into primary (age, preparation and
  learning readiness,..)

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2. Why the FTI and ECD?Putting ECD
front-and-center

• The evidence is conclusive ECD contributes to
  school success
• FTI supports a sector-wide approach and education
  reform to achieve primary completion
• FTI has political power (convenes high level
  donors and government) ? platform for building
  synergies between ECD and primary

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Review of Education Sector Plans/ FTI Proposals

• ECD is included in most of the education sector
  plans/proposals submitted to FTI
• ECD is included as (i) a separate sub-level or
  (ii) as one of the various strategies for
  increase equity and quality of primary education

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2.Response from FTI endorsement process

• Issues
• FTI does not include benchmarks or indicators for
  pre-primary (indicative framework) Lack of data
  to leverage action
• Rarely do donors comment on countrys strategy
  for ECD comments usually limited to primary
  education Lack of capacity to respond, supply
  side constraint
• Rarely is there an explicit commitment of
  catalytic funds for ECD (exception Moldova) --
  demand

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3.Analysis -ECD and PCR highly correlated in FTI
countriesECD increases probability of school
completion
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3.Which FTI Countries Are ready to introduce ECD ?

• FTI countries not homogeneous
• Range of educational needs
• Most acknowledge need to work at ECD level
• Different stages in the ECD system building and
  coverage and various levels of capacity
• gt yet, there are common elements of an ECD
  system that can be strengthen

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3.Which are Possible Countries to Expand ECD? -
Clustering
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Clustering FTI Countries

• Clustering of FTI countries for a differentiated
  approach for scaling up ECD
• which countries are ready to do more on ECD
• what can these countries consider
• Parameters Primary completion rates and
  participation in preprimary (based on Bruns et
  al)
• Three groups
• Group 1 Relatively Successful High PCR, High
  GERPP
• Group 3 Relatively unsuccessful low PCR, GER
  PP, GER P
• Group 4 Fall in Between countries High PCR/Low
  GERPP, High GERP

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2 Clusters of Countries

• Group 1 Relatively Successful Albania,
  Georgia, Ghana, Kenya, Moldova, Mongolia,
  Nicaragua, Sao Tome, Vietnam
• Group 4 Fall in Between countries Benin,
  Bangladesh, Cambodia, Kyrgyzstan, Lesotho,
  Tajikistan, Zambia

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3. What are Gr 1 countries planning to do?

• Georgia
• Improve access of 3 to 7 yr olds situational
  analysis, governance and funding schemes
  normative framework
• Increase Net enrolment rates through design of
  diversified forms of ECD and subsidies for needy
• Develop teacher training programs and curriculum

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3. What are Gr1 countries planning to do?

• Moldova
• Increase participation (to 100 for 5-6 yrs old)
  through improving existing preschools, providing
  comprehensive services (health and
  transportation), exploring other alternatives
• Develop standards
• Review curriculum and textbooks focusing on child
  centered approach
• Improve professional development through
  increased salaries, initial and continuing
  training
• Consolidate partnerships and involve communities

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3. What are Gr1 countries planning to do?

• Mongolia
• Access (GER to 99) through kindergartens and
  other forms of ECD
• Improve quality of services (including water and
  hygiene and premises
• Develop standards for all services
• Strengthen human capacity
• Encourage private sector provision

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3. What are Gr1 countries planning to do?
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4. Recommendations So What Do We Do?

• Support countries scale-up ECD by building the
  blocks of an ECD system
• Review existing plans to identify
• for building blocks that are already incorporated
  and
• suggest others that need to be incorporated
• Advocacy to local donors on synergies of ECD and
  PCR 7 is too late for UPC!

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Early Childhood Development System
Across programs and connected to other systems
Coordinated Governance And Financing
Programs Program Standards and Early Learning
and Development Guidelines
Programs that meet Standards
To consumers, public and private sector
Engagement Outreach
Children Ready for Success
Compliance with standards and ongoing
technical support
Monitoring and Improvement
Health, Nutrition, Mental Health, Disability
Services Parenting and Family Support
Comprehensive Services

Workforce Development
Core competencies Access to Training and Higher
Education, Credentialing
Adapted from the State Early Childhood Policy
Technical Assistance Network, J.Lombardi, 2007
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4. What else could countries do to build their
ECD systems?

• Monitoring child development outcomes upon school
  entry
• Promote child centered curriculum, and teacher
  training in first three grades
• Determine service needs and promote community
  planning
• Fund community based preschools for children
  prior to school entry
• Promote parenting programs and early learning
  through community health clinics
• Differentiate what can be done
• within the Education sector
• what needs to be done outside of the Education
  sector to facilitate or create enabling envt.

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4. What else could countries do to build their
ECD systems?

• Use ECD to prepare children for multilingual or
  national language classrooms this is a
  significant value where mother tongue is not
  national policy or is inconsistently implemented
  (most places!)
• Where mother tongue is a reality, use ECD for the
  first step in mother tongue education
• Work with corporations and labor unions to engage
  corporations in public private partnerships
• Engage women's groups in ECD

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Monitoring child development outcomes

• Determine children vulnerable at school entry
• Determine which areas/localities need most ECD
• Determine which schools will require additional
  support for vulnerable students entering grade 1
• Initial steps of building a monitoring system for
  ECD
• The EDI results are predictive of later school
  performance at grade 4 and the EDI vulnerability
  index has very high correlation with failing
  subsequent Grade four testing.  

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Monitoring Child Development Outcomes

• Building monitoring systems
• Collecting population-based child outcome data

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Cost of Vulnerability Failing to Meet
Expectations Not Passing on Grade 4 FSAs
of Vulnerabilities Failing to MEs Not
Passing Numeracy 0 7.5 12.3 1
11.8 22.2 2-3 18.7 33.8 4-5 27.5 55.6
Reading 0 13.6 17.8 1 26.7 33.9 2-3
29.5 43.1 4-5 48.4 68.3
(Grade 4)
(EDI)
(Grade 4)
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Measurable Outcomes AEDI Perth Western Australia
Community Vulnerable
2003 2006
Floreat 16.6 2.4 Wembley
18.4 6.6 Other communities No intervention
No change
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02-056
Policies to Foster Quality Human Capital
"We cannot afford to postpone investing in
children until they become adults nor can we
wait until they reach school - a time when it
may be too late to intervene."
Heckman, J., 2001
(Nobel Prize Economics, 2000)