Replication Data for: \"All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten: Evidence from the Philippines\"

Although there is broad agreement that investments in early childhood education are important, questions about the relative effectiveness of different types of programs persist. We study the effects of two distinct types of kindergarten programs in the Philippines: the Jumpstart kindergarten program, implemented by a local faith-based NGO between 2005 and 2017, and a government-sponsored kindergarten program mandated nationwide beginning in 2012. Exploiting the timing of the roll-out of these two programs relative to the age different children within a household could enter kindergarten, we find large effects on primary school academic performance due to attending Jumpstart and smaller effects due to attending the government kindergarten. We then examine mediating characteristics that may explain these differential effects. We find that socio-emotional skills such as self-control, openness, and conscientiousness partially mediate our primary results. These findings support other research that highlights the importance of developing socio-emotional skills in the pre-elementary grade levels not only as ends in themselves but also as mediators to better academic performance尽管学界已就早期儿童教育投资的重要性达成广泛共识，但针对不同类型学前教育项目的相对有效性仍存在诸多争议。本研究以菲律宾为研究场景，聚焦两类截然不同的幼儿园项目展开实证分析：一是2005年至2017年间由当地宗教依托型非政府组织（faith-based NGO）推行的Jumpstart幼儿园项目，二是2012年起在全国范围内强制实施的政府主办幼儿园项目。我们借助两类项目的推行时序，结合家庭内部不同年龄儿童的入园年龄差异这一外生变异开展识别，结果显示：参与Jumpstart幼儿园项目对儿童的小学阶段学业表现具有显著正向影响，而参与政府主办幼儿园项目的影响则相对较小。随后，我们进一步探究了可解释这两类项目效果差异的中介特征。研究发现，自我控制、开放性与尽责性等社会情感技能，能够部分中介本研究的核心实证结果。本研究结论与既往相关研究相互印证，均强调在学前阶段培养儿童社会情感技能的重要性——此类技能不仅本身就是核心教育目标，同时也是提升后续学业表现的重要中介变量。