Impacts of Interventions during Early Childhood on Later Outcomes : A Systematic Review
In an effort to bridge the evidence gap, the Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) prepared a systematic review that gathers and analyzes the available impact evaluation evidence in developing countries from 1990 to 2013 on whether early childhood int...
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| Language: | English en_US |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2015
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2015/04/24418906/impacts-interventions-during-early-childhood-later-outcomes-systematic-review http://hdl.handle.net/10986/21915 |
| Summary: | In an effort to bridge the evidence gap,
the Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) prepared a systematic
review that gathers and analyzes the available impact
evaluation evidence in developing countries from 1990 to
2013 on whether early childhood interventions shape future
outcomes. Its purpose is not to supplant existing evidence
but rather to help practitioners understand how evidence
from impact evaluations supports or challenges beliefs about
interventions and can be used to inform development policy.
This review aims to answer two questions: (1) What is the
evidence of attributable effects on outcomes in primary
school and beyond from interventions in low- and
middle-income countries that occur during the early
childhood period? and (2) How do the post-early childhood
effects of early childhood interventions vary by
socioeconomic status, gender, age at intervention, and age
at evaluation, particularly during the first 1,000 days from
conception to the childs second birthday and from age three
to primary school enrollment at age five to six? This report
reviews all interventions from developing countries that
occur during early childhood for which impact evaluation
estimates exist for effects observed at primary school age
and older. From an initial search of thousands of studies,
the search process which included database searches, hand
searches, and snowballing identified more than 500 relevant
impact evaluations written from 1990 to 2015. This review
covers six areas or domains of human development: physical
development, cognitive development, language development,
socio-emotional development, schooling outcomes, and
employment and labor market outcomes. These domains are
commonly included in evaluations of early interventions
targeting poor children because they are negatively affected
by early poverty, can benefit from early intervention, and
are important for overall well-being or adult productivity.
Some outcomes can be measured repeatedly starting from early
childhood (i.e., height and weight) while others are only
measurable later in life (i.e., cognition, schooling, and
employment and labor market status). |
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