Valkova Inna, PhD, Director of the Center for Educational Assessment and Teaching Methods. Paris, November 2014 The Impact of Pre-school education on the learning achievements of schoolchildren

Assessment of the Educational system of Kyrgyzstan International: Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2006 and 2009 PISA 2006: Years Old Students from 201 Schools PISA 2009: Years Old Students from 173 Schools National: National Sample Based Assessment (NSBA) 2007, 2009 and 2014 NSBA 2007 : 6965 Students (4th and 8th Grades) from 202 Schools NSBA 2009 : 7214 Students (4th and 8th Grades) from 204 Schools NSBA 2014 : 5871 Students (4th Grade) from 204 Schools

Results of International Assessment PISA 2006 PISA 2009 DID NOT achieve the minimum international standard more than 80% students Only few students can demonstrate high performance results in reading literacy

NSBA (4 th grade) 2007, 2009 and 2014 Results of National Assessments About 35% of Kyrgyzstan students can perform reading literacy tasks at the basic level of complexity and above

Did you attend kindergarten? %Mean Score No Yes, for one year or less Yes, for more than one year Missing PISA Participated years old students %Mean Score No Yes, for one year or less Yes, for more than one year Missing NSBA Participated th Grade students Is there correlation between Pre-school education and learning achievements? Did you attend kindergarten?

Reading in PISA 2009 Linear regression and residual analysis Group 1. Schools mainly attended by students with DISADVANTAGED Preschool Education Index Group 2. Schools mainly attended by students with AVERAGE Preschool Education Index Group 3. Schools mainly attended by students with ADVANTAGED Preschool Education Index Regression line Reading performance by Index Preschool education Scores

Reading in PISA 2009 Linear regression and residual analysis Group 1. Students attending schools with disadvantaged Pre-School Education Index perform on average lower than what would be predicted Mean of residuals Reading performance for the top and bottom quarters of the Index Preschool education, by school group Group 3. Students attending schools with advantaged Pre-School Education Index perform on average higher than what would be predicted These results confirm a Pre-School composition effect on student Reading performance in PISA 2009.

Reading in NSBA 2014 Linear regression and residual analysis Regression line Reading performance by Index Preschool education Scores Mean of residuals Reading performance for the top and bottom quarters of the Index Preschool education, by school group

Mathematics in PISA 2009 and NSBA 2014 Linear regression and residual analysis PISA 2009 Regression line Mathematics performance by Index Preschool education NSBA 2014 Regression line Mathematics performance by Index Preschool education

Girls and Boys. Preschool Education PISA Reading NSBA Reading

Reading performance. Preschool Education Analyses by quarters, effect size and relative risk PISA School Category NSBA School Category

NSBA Read before school %Mean Score No Yes Missing Participated th Grade students Did you able to read before primary school? Regression line Reading performance by Index Read before school

NSBA Fluency Reading Participated th Grade students How much do you agree or disagree with these statements about reading? Regression line Reading performance by Index Fluency Reading I read slowly DisagreePartially agreeAgreeMissing % Mean Score

Main findings In PISA 2009 Kyrgyzstan's students who attended kindergartens longer than one year had significant higher achievements in reading and mathematics. In NSBA 2014 the correlation between attending kindergarten and student achievements in reading is weaker then in PISA. The correlation in Math practically absent. In PISA 2009 boys have lower scores then girls, but the impact of the preschool education on boys and girls performance in reading is almost equal. In NSBA 2014 boys also have lower scores, and their performance not depend on the preschool education. The results of girls are significantly more dependent on preschool education then the results of boys

Main findings The most significant impact of kindergarten learning was traced in the capital Bishkek, where it can be describe as average. The impact is slightly lighter in the category of schools of towns, but it is also average. In rural schools this impact on reading and math non- existent. This is a due to the general poor quality of preschool education in the rural kindergartens. The ability to read prior to school has impact on students performance. The ability of fluent reading has impact on students performance. It allows to focus on the meaning of what student read.

Pre-school preparation PISA 2009 (Children attended kindergarten in ). Situation: decrease of numbers of the kindergartens, but the primary education still stable, teachers good qualified, kindergartens have necessary equipment and learning facilities. NSBA 2014(Children attended kindergarten in ). Situation: the number of kindergartens is increasing, but the newly opened kindergartens had serious difficulties with space, equipment, learning facilities qualified staff members. There where only 100 hours program of preschool learning in kindergarten in that period.

Preschool Education in Kyrgyzstan Numbers of Numbers of kindergarten PISA 2009 Participants NSBA 2014 Participants

Pre-school preparation 100-hour program 2006 – hour program since 2012 Programs aim to teach reading, writing, counting, and social skills 480-hour program School preparation groups in kindergartens

What should we do? Move the accent from quantity of kindergartens to quality of preschool learning To elaborate and implement a modern preschool academic program which aligned with Grade 1 learning and achievement standards - subject curriculum. This should facilitate mastering of school program by children and smooth their transition from preschool into Grade 1. Support the program with learning materials, teaching aids and methodological literature for teachers. Prepare the qualified kindergarten teachers with sufficient professional level. Create the resource centers and web sites with necessary materials for kindergarten teachers. A special attention must be paid to teaching of the children to read and to developing their interest for reading. A special emphasize needs to be paid on rural kindergartens....

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