To see a full list of related work please see the Quality Early Learning page.
Publications
- Quality Early Learning: Nurturing Children’s Potential [PDF] (May 2022): provides the latest evidence on how young children learn most effectively and how ECE programs can foster children’s natural ability and motivation to learn. It offers guidance for policy makers on policy design and implementation including what elements of ECE to prioritize in resource- and capacity-constrained settings in LMICs. View each chapter’s brief here.
- [PDF] (March 2022): shares the basic science of child development and explains how children develop schools and how to foster early stimulation and learning, along with a range of interventions to support families with young learners.
- [PDF] (July 2021): presents compelling evidence for policymakers to take urgent action to protect their early childhood development systems based on a survey from 26 countries.
- [PDF] (June 2021): examines the evidence of pre-primary investments from 55 (quasi-) experimental studies, suggesting spending increases would help improve the efficiency of early childhood interventions - particularly for children from disadvantaged backgrounds.
- [PDF] (February 2021): seeks to understand the factors facilitating or impeding efforts to make early childhood education a government priority while drawing on a cross-country analysis.
- [PDF] (September 2018): investigates the relationship between ECE participation and several long-term outcomes such as: post-ECE educational attainment, cognitive and socio-emotional skill development and labor market outcomes.
Blogs
- (September 27, 2022)
- (September 21, 2022)
- (May 25, 2022)
- (May 3, 2022)
- (June 22, 2021)
- (April 16, 2020)
- (April 10, 2019)
Guidance Notes
- [PDF] (September 2020): As countries make decisions to reopen schools, there are unique considerations related to opening early childhood education (ECE) settings with holistic approaches to nurturing care and learning for young children.
- [PDF] (April 2020): Young children need comprehensive nurturing care which includes good health, adequate nutrition, early learning opportunities, responsive caregiving, and safety and security. The World Bank’s Investing in the Early Years framework lays out three pillars to ensure children reach their full potential.
- [PDF] (March 2017): This guide serves as a resource for policy makers and development professionals interested in improving access to high-quality Early Childhood Development (ECD) services. It brings together a selection of approaches to ECD that have been implemented with promising results in low- or middle-income countries (or both).
- [PDF] (August 2016): This brief provides basic information on measuring the quality of early learning programs using a range of tools and approaches.
- [PDF] (February 2015): This toolkit is a user-friendly guide for program managers interested in developing high quality technology-enhanced early childhood programming, particularly in challenging, low-resource contexts. See Interactive Audio Instruction Pilot in Democratic Republic of Congo: Video as an example.
Country Case Studies
- ELP Impact in Pakistan [PDF] (February 2017): Expanding quality preschool and engaging families: This infographic provides a visual summary of how ELP investment to prepare a new Early Childhood Education Project in Pakistan yields significant results in expanding quality preschool. ?
- [PDF] (September 2016): This brief summarizes the findings of a recent study of the cost of preschool in Kenya, the financing gaps that remain, and possible policy options to achieve cost savings to help Kenya’s counties meet the goal of expanding quality ECDE service provision.