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CC BY V4.0, Open Access
Thesis
Evaluating Early Childhood Education Programs: a Systematic Literature Review
Washington State University
Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
2023
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7273/000005204
Abstract
Early childhood education (ECE) aims to close the gap in school readiness, increase the likelihood of successful learning outcomes, and reduce long-term governmental investment in managing the outcomes of poorly prepared learners. Evaluation science underscores that quality early childhood programs impact early and later cognitive, health, and socioemotional development. Therefore, early childhood program evaluation ensures that families of children under age five receive high-quality early care and education services to support child development. Despite substantial investment and a wealth of literature in ECE evaluation, more research is needed to assess early childhood education programs to understand how and how well these evaluations measure the efficacy of early childhood programs. The present review investigated the process of evaluating ECE programs across the following constructs: evaluation purpose, evaluation standards, evaluation methods, and stakeholders’ engagement. A comprehensive search of six electronic databases was conducted, including studies on ECE programs published in English from 1992 to 2022. The review excluded studies of programs designed exclusively for children with special needs. Thirty studies and five reports met the requirements for inclusion. This research found that sampling and funding were significant challenges in evaluating early childhood education programs. Most studies and reviews focused on urban, primarily Black, low-income families. Most of the reviewed studies of the last three decades measured the impact of early childhood programs with questionnaires, interviews, assessment/test scores, surveys, home or classroom observation, parents’ participation, developmental milestones, child observation record/ behavioral checklist, and environmental rating scales.
Findings demonstrated that each of the thirty-five studies involved at least two stakeholders in evaluating ECE programs. This review contributes to informing ECE policies for bridging evaluation gaps in early childhood education and equipping program evaluators and stakeholders with appropriate methods and tools for evaluation.
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Details
- Title
- Evaluating Early Childhood Education Programs
- Creators
- oluyemisi Ajoke Oloniyo
- Contributors
- Michael S Trevisan (Advisor)Olusola O Adesope (Committee Member)Kira J Carbonneau (Committee Member)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Department of Kinesiology and Educational Psychology
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University
- Number of pages
- 67
- Identifiers
- 99901019936201842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis