Abstract:
We study the effects of preschool attendance on children's school progression and cognitive skills in
Kenya and Tanzania. Our analysis uses novel data from large-scale household surveys of children's
literacy and numeracy skills, which also collect retrospective information on preschool attendance.
Against the backdrop of a large expansion of pre-primary education, our regressions identify the
impacts from within-household differences, controlling for a variety of child-specific covariates. In
both countries, children who go to preschool tend to enroll in primary school late, and thus fall
behind in terms of grades completed at early ages. However, once in school, they progress through
grades faster and at ages 13-16 have completed about one and a half more months of schooling
than their same-aged peers who did not attend preschool. They also score around 0.10 standard
deviations higher on standardized cognitive tests, showing that there are important long-term
benefits from preschool in Kenya and Tanzania.
