An empirical analysis of the impact of early educational interventions before age three on cognitive development

Cognitive abilities are recognized as crucial for children's learning and future development. This study investigates the impact of early educational intervention before age three on cognitive development among elementary school students. The sample data comprises students in grades 4-6, with an average age of 11 years, from 36 urban elementary schools and 9 township elementary schools in Hefei City, Anhui Province, China. The results show a significant "U-shaped" relationship between early educational interventions and children's cognitive abilities, but this effect varies geographically. Early educational interventions before age three have a powerful effect on the cognitive abilities of children from non-rural households. In contrast, the effect on children from rural households is more limited. At the same time, this effect varies across income households. In addition, based on the school entrance test scores of these students when they entered elementary school, this study also explores the multiple mechanisms of action by which early educational interventions affect children's cognitive abilities through influencing children's pre-school reading ability (R) as well as children's ability to write Chinese characters before school entry (WW). The findings suggest that China needs to provide differentiated instructional support for different groups of children to promote children's cognitive development.