What do children know upon entry to pre-school in Rio de Janeiro?

• Main Authors: Tiago Lisboa Bartholo, Mariane Campelo Koslinski, Marcio da Costa, Thais Barcellos
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Fundação CESGRANRIO 2020-04-01
• Series: Ensaio
• Subjects: early childhood education; longitudinal studies; educational opportunities; educational inequality/disadvantage
• Online Access: https://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0104-40362020000200292&lng=pt&nrm=iso

The paper discusses the need for studies with longitudinal design and a baseline for construction of value added models to assess the impact of policies and school practices in pre-school and in the first years of primary school. The objective was to identify family factors or previous experience in a crèche that are correlated with the starting point in pre-school. The multivariate regression models suggest that a) age is a key factor to explain children’s cognitive development when they start compulsory education; b) educational level of parents/guardians is the most significant factor for family characteristics; c) the home learning environment indicator suggests a positive association with the cognitive test, even after control of socio-economic level and age variables.