types of preschool are better than others, but any type is better than
none at all.
Researchers measured outcomes associated with three major preschool
programs in Cambodia—state preschools, community preschools, and
home-based programs. In so doing, they looked at a randomized sample
of 880 5-year-olds from six mainly rural provinces of the country; the
children attended one of the three programs or no program, and the
study assessed their developmental gains at the start and end of a
school year.
The study found that the effects of the preschool experience on
children's development at age 6 depended on the type of preschool they
attended. But children who went to any of the three types of programs
did significantly better than children who didn't go to any preschool.
Children attending state preschools improved more than those attending
the other two types of programs. This may be because state preschools
tend to have more qualified teachers than community preschools and
more resources (including learning materials) than both community
preschools and home-based programs.
The study was done by researchers at the University of Hong Kong,
Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Beijing Normal University, Cornell
University, and California Polytechnic State University. It is
published in the journal Child Development.
