Waldfogel Jane, Washbrook Elizabeth
Social Work and Public Affairs, Columbia University School of Social Work, 1255 Amsterdam Ave, New York, NY 10027.
Child Dev Res. 2011;2011. doi: 10.1155/2011/343016.
In this paper, we analyze the role that early years policy might play in narrowing educational attainment gaps. We begin by examining gaps in school readiness between low-, middle-, and high-income children, drawing on data from new large and nationally representative birth cohort studies in the US and UK. We find that sizable income-related gaps in school readiness are present in both countries before children enter school and then decompose these gaps to identify the factors that account for the poorer scores of low-income children. We then consider what role early years policy could play in tackling these gaps, drawing on the best available evidence to identify promising programs.
在本文中，我们分析了早期教育政策在缩小教育成就差距方面可能发挥的作用。我们首先利用美国和英国新的大型全国代表性出生队列研究的数据，考察低收入、中等收入和高收入儿童在入学准备方面的差距。我们发现，在两国儿童入学之前，入学准备方面就存在着与收入相关的显著差距，然后我们对这些差距进行分解，以确定导致低收入儿童得分较低的因素。接着，我们借鉴现有最佳证据来确定有前景的项目，思考早期教育政策在解决这些差距方面可以发挥什么作用。
