Commonly regulated structural quality features, like educator education levels and group size, are thought to be foundational to the quality of children's everyday experiences in early education and care settings. Yet little is known about how these features relate to the day-to-day interactions and activities that occur in these settings--or…

Robust evidence suggesting a strong association between greater educational attainment, better health and lower mortality, has led to speculation that the quality of schooling can also have effects on health. This review critically summarises findings from 15 studies in a growing area of research concerning the effects of school quality on health.…

This study examines whether parents' overall satisfaction with their child's early childhood education (ECE) program is correlated with a broad set of program characteristics, including (a) observational assessments of teacher-child interactions; (b) structural features of the program, such as teacher education and class size; (c) practical and…

This paper aims to examine the current inequalities within Nigeria's education system with a brief focus on Lagos, Ondo State and Ogun State. It will also examine how the current system is funded and will consider the percentage of GDP the government spends on education in Nigeria in comparison to other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. In addition…

Preschool classrooms with varying levels of structural quality requirements across the state of West Virginia were investigated for differences in measured structural and process quality. Quality was measured using group size, child-to-teacher/staff ratio, teacher education, and the Early Childhood Environmental Rating Scale-Revised (ECERS-R;…

The question of how class size impacts on student learning has been debated for some time, not least because it has substantial financial implications for educational policy. The strength of this debate notwithstanding, results from numerous international studies have been inconclusive. The study from which this paper stems sought to conceptualise…

This paper aims to describe the quality of play as offered by early childhood educators working with four-year-olds within an educational childcare service. It also aims to identify the correlation between the quality of play support and a child's cognitive, language and socio-emotional development. Finally, it focuses on the factors associated…

This second edition policy brief revisits the long and storied literature on whether money matters in providing a quality education. It includes research released since the original brief in 2012 and covers a handful of additional topics. Increasingly, political rhetoric adheres to the unfounded certainty that money does not make a difference in…

This paper reports on secondary analysis of TIMSS 2003 data, based on a sound conceptual model, aiming to explain differential science achievement in South Africa from the perspective of educational effectiveness research. The conceptual framework was developed by refining existing school effectiveness models and including factors related to…

Class size may be important in achievement, but it is not the only decision for policymakers. Class size plays a role, but the role is effectively fulfilled only when the other players are successful. Therefore, it is appropriate to address several questions: What goals are to be accomplished; what is the best distribution of personnel related to…

In Project STAR, 11,571 students in Tennessee and their teachers were randomly assigned to different classrooms within their schools from kindergarten to third grade. This paper evaluates the long-term impacts of STAR using administrative records. We obtain five results. First, kindergarten test scores are highly correlated with outcomes such as…

Purpose: Newly designed schools for centuries have projected fresh ideals regarding how children should learn and how human settlements should be organized. But under what conditions can forward-looking architects or education reformers trump the institutionalized practices of teachers or the political-economic constraints found within urban…