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Reexamining a Multisite Early Childhood Education Program: Gradual Scale-Up, Birth Spacing, and Parental Investment.
William Dougan1, Jorge Luis García2, Illia Polovnikov3
1Clemson University.
Journal of Political Economy Microeconomics
|July 11, 2026
Summary
Early childhood education benefits singletons long-term, but harms twins due to reduced parental investment. Birth spacing is key to program effectiveness for young children.
Area of Science:
- Child Development
- Economics
- Education Policy
Background:
- High-quality early childhood education programs show significant long-term benefits.
- A specific program unintentionally enrolled a higher proportion of twins.
- Premature low-birthweight children were targeted, leading to twin oversampling.
Purpose of the Study:
- To reexamine the long-term effectiveness of an early childhood education program.
- To investigate how birth spacing influences program outcomes.
- To understand the differential impacts on singletons and twins.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of a multisite, randomized, high-quality early childhood education program.
- Examination of program effects on children up to age eighteen.
- Mediation analysis of parental investment (parenting) on child outcomes.
- Application of a household production model.
Main Results:
- Program effectiveness is determined by birth spacing.
- Singletons show sustained positive outcomes comparable to landmark studies.
- Twins exhibit negative outcomes by age eighteen.
- Parental investment mediates outcome differences: increased for singletons, decreased for twins.
Conclusions:
- Early childhood education effectiveness varies significantly based on birth order and spacing.
- The program's negative impact on twins is linked to reduced parental investment.
- Household production dynamics explain the decrease in parenting for twins.
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