Summary
Key findings
- Attending preschool is associated with better reading and mathematics scores in primary school.
- In Grade 2, preschool goes with reading gains of 0.23 SD for the lowest performers (10th percentile), 0.18 SD at the median and 0.27 SD for the top performers (90th percentile), with similar results in mathematics.
- By Grade 6 the association remains mainly from the median upward, so preschool appears to benefit higher-performing pupils most.
- The author argues for better-targeted early-childhood investments in Togo.
Methodology & context
- Uses the 2019 PASEC assessment for Togo: 8,209 pupils (2,092 in Grade 2 and 6,117 in Grade 6) from a nationally representative sample of about 400 schools.
- Unconditional, conditional and stratum fixed-effects quantile regressions, checked with fixed-effects OLS and propensity-score methods (IPW, AIPW, IPWRA).
- Results are associations rather than causal effects.
Summary drafted with AI from the AFEP working paper and policy brief, and checked against them. See the full study for details.
Abstract
The objective of this research is to examine the distributional association of preschool education with the learning outcomes of primary school students in Togo. To do so, this research uses unconditional, conditional, stratum fixed-effects conditional quantile regressions and data from CONFEMEN Program for the Analysis of Educational Systems (PASEC) survey conducted in 2019. Additional robustness tests, based on stratum fixed-effects OLS estimation and propensity score estimators (IPW, AIPW, and IPWRA), were conducted to ensure the stability of the results. The results show a positive association between access to preschool education and school performance, particularly in Grade 2. In Grade 2, preschool attendance is associated with score gains of 0.233 standard deviation at the 10th quantile, 0.178 at the median, and 0.268 at the 90th quantile in reading. The results are similar for mathematics. In Grade 6, this positive association persists in the middle and upper quantiles for both subjects. This suggests that students in these segments of the distribution are more likely to benefit from a higher-quality education and a favorable family environment. These distributional associations suggest that preschool education disproportionately benefits higher-performing students in the upper quantiles, particularly at Grade 6, with implications for how policymakers should target early childhood investments in Togo.