from EVIDENCE to POLICY Learning what works for better programs and policies March 2018 BULGARIA: Does making early education free benefit disadvantaged children? Giving children access to quality early education can help pre- old lags behind that of other children, who also can face in- pare them for primary school by strengthening their physical, equalities later on in educational opportunities. State programs cognitive and socio-emotional development. But many chil- in Bulgaria don’t charge fees for five and six-year-old children dren, especially those from poor and otherwise disadvantaged in half-day programs, but they do charge for full day programs families, don’t have the opportunity to attend preschool. Their and for children aged three to four. The World Bank’s Strate- families may not be able to afford to send them, may not rec- gic Impact Evaluation Fund (SIEF) supported a study carried ognize the importance out with the Bulgaria-based Trust for Social Achievement to of early education or test whether covering the costs of preprimary education would may not have access to boost enrollment and attendance. The evaluation found that EDUCATION a quality program. To removing fees substantially increased the likelihood both of help all children have children being registered in preschool and of attending pre- the same opportunity to school, while giving families small monthly financial incentives benefit from early educa- on top of free tuition didn’t further improve enrollment. How- tion, some programs try ever, the Roma children who enrolled didn’t show the same to improve children’s en- developmental progress as the Bulgarian children, and in some rollment in preschool. But what’s the most cost-effective way to cases, had worse outcomes than children in the control group. do this and will all children benefit from earlier access to early Researchers will test children again, right before they enter pri- childhood education programs? mary school, to see if they are doing better after a second year These questions have particular relevance in Bulgaria, of preschool. At the same time, the results have triggered ad- where enrollment among children from the Roma minority in ditional research to better understand how to support Roma early education programs for children aged three to six years children as they transition to the classroom. Context In Bulgaria, school is now compulsory for children aged five for them to find full-day slots when their children are ready and six-years-old (known as preschool for children in this to start at age five. A 2011 European Union regional study age group) and the government offers full-day and half-day looking at the situation of Roma populations in Bulgaria, programs. Full-day programs, which are preferred by most Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and the Czech Republic found families, charge about 176 Bulgarian lev (or about U.S. $112) that while more than 75 percent of children aged three to six a year. Half-day programs are free, but families are often years old were in a preschool program, about 55 percent of asked to contribute monthly to cover transportation, food Roma children weren’t. and school supplies. Because the number of full-day slots is The Bulgarian-based Trust for Social Achievement, a lo- limited, families that want to ensure availability enroll their cal non-governmental organization created by the America for children in schools’ preschool programs at age three or four, Bulgaria Foundation to fund programs for economically disad- which guarantees them a kindergarten slot when they’re older. vantaged people, including Roma, worked with SIEF-support- But school at this age isn’t free. As a result, poor families in ed researchers to design and evaluate strategies for increasing Bulgaria may be less likely to take advantage of early education early childhood education participation among the poorest programs when their children are younger, making it harder families in Bulgaria. Intervention and Evaluation The Trust for Social Achievement, in conjunction with local and one that received no information or introduction. Within non-governmental organizations, preschools and municipal each of these two groups, researchers further randomly assigned authorities, created the Springboard for Social Readiness pro- these communities to one of four groups. In one group of com- gram to identify cost-effective approaches for improving early munities, preschool for children aged three to four became tu- childhood education enrollment and attendance for the poor- ition-free, and any extra fees were fully covered by the program est families. The program design included a randomized control for all children aged three to six. In a second group, households trial to measure the impact of different financial incentives and qualified for the same cost-free preschool and received an ad- an informational campaign about the importance of preprimary ditional BGN 7 per month (about $4.20), conditional on their education. In particular, researchers wanted to test if including child’s attendance. A third group of communities also qualified additional financial incentives generated an increase in preschool for cost-free preschool and received a larger monthly stipend of participation high enough to make this kind of policy option BGN 20 ($12.50) conditional on attendance. A fourth group more effective than simply making preschool free. continued with no additional assistance for school fees or sti- pends. Thus, there were a total of eight experimental groups. •There are approximately 10-12 million Roma in Europe and the vast These included: A control group that received nothing; a group majority live in deep poverty. that only received the information program; a group that re- •One third of Roma children in Eastern Europe go hungry at least once a ceived free preschool; a group that received free preschool plus EDUCATION month the information campaign; a group that received free preschool •80 percent of Roma parents report wanting a secondary education for their children, but less than a quarter of all Roma children finish high school. plus a small conditional cash transfer; a group that received free •Bulgaria has one of the largest Roma populations in Europe with an preschool, a small conditional cash transfer and the information estimated 700,000 Roma. All numbers from report campaign; and a group that received free preschool plus a larger conditional cash transfer; a group that received free preschool, a Using a list prepared by the Open Society Institute in larger conditional cash transfer; and the information campaign. 2007 of all Bulgarian communities with at least 10 Roma The information intervention, organized by mainly Roma-led households, the research team identified 236 communities groups, consisted of five public community meetings held over eligible for the study. To be included, a community had to 10 months. In total, 188 communities received the information have at least 25 children in the age range of two and five; a campaign and 188 didn’t, divided across the three treatment school providing preprimary education that was reachable on groups and one control group. foot or through free public transportation and that had at least 15 new slots available; and study consent from the local Sample population: mayor and school principal. Average child was 3.9 years old at start Researchers held a public lottery in June 2014 to randomize 44 percent of parents had not completed grade 4 the 236 communities into different treatment groups. The lot- tery, held at a hotel in the capital, Sofia, was conducted in front Half of parents reported some difficulty reading and writing Bulgarian of officials from the Ministry of Education, the national Associa- Families were poor, with a monthly income of BGN 432 ($260) at base- line, compared to the national average of BGN 957 ($576) tion of Municipalities in Bulgaria, mayors, directors of full-day preschools, non-governmental organizations and others. The or- Only 61 percent of household heads were (self-) employed at baseline. ganizers videotaped and made the lottery available on YouTube to ensure full transparency. Prior to randomizing the communities into the different Researchers employed a cross-cut design to test the im- groups, researchers conducted a baseline survey to gather in- pacts of providing information and easing financial constraints. formation on the households, such as employment, education, Communities were randomly assigned to two groups—one that and literacy, along with perceptions of preschool and parental received information on the benefits of preprimary education involvement in education activities. The survey, carried out in and an introduction to the school system and school officials, April 2014, covered all 5,772 households with eligible children This policy note is based on “Supporting Disadvantaged Children to Enter Kindergarten: Experimental Evidence from Bulgaria,” Elise Huillery, Joost de Laat, Paul Gertler, World Bank Impact Evaluation Report, June 2017. in the 236 communities. The endline survey took place in April- searchers used the IDELA tool, developed by Save the Children, May 2015 and included three unannounced preschool checks to measure both cognitive and non-cognitive skills, including during the April-May 2015 period. During the endline survey, language and early literacy, math and problem solving, socio- the research team also collected child development data. Re- emotional development, and motor skills. Results Simply doing away with tuition costs and other fees likely to attend an information session. But when the costs of turned out to be the most cost-effective approach preschool were covered, meeting attendance was 64 percentage for increasing preschool enrollment and attendance. points higher. As with the case of enrollment and attendance Additional financial incentives didn’t matter, nor did in preschool, adding conditional cash transfers to the offer of additional information. information didn’t lead to any further increase in the likelihood that a family would attend a meeting. Removing the costs for enrolling children aged three and six years old increased preschool enrollment of Bulgarian The information campaign had a positive impact on and minority Roma and Turkish children alike. Enrollment parent’s understanding of the importance of early rose by 14 percentage points overall, or 19 percent, effec- education and improved their aspirations for their tively cutting the fraction of unregistered children in half. daughters, especially within Roma and other minority Attendance, meanwhile, rose by 10 percentage points, or by communities. 22 percent, when measured through unannounced visits to the school. In both cases, this was in comparison with chil- In communities where the informational meetings were held, dren in the control group didn’t have any financial support whether alongside financial incentives or not, parental knowl- to access preschool and who didn’t receive the information edge rose across all eligible groups. When broken down by intervention. The informational meetings alone resulted in background, knowledge rose the most among Roma and Turk- no statistically significant impacts on registration or atten- ish families. dance. The information meetings Making preschool free was enough to encourage families also had positive impacts on pa- to register their children and send them to school. Offer- rental aspirations for their chil- ing parents additional conditional cash payments didn’t lead dren, especially for girls. Families to any increase in enrollment or attendance. Twinning the that had access to the informa- information campaign with free preschool didn’t further in- tional campaigns said the educa- crease registration or attendance, regardless of whether or tion of girls should stop 0.8 years not families also were offered conditional cash payments. later than families in the control group. When financial incentives Making preschool free also led to increased were combined with informa- attendance at the informational meetings. tional meetings, families were more likely to believe that it was The information campaign consisted of five community meet- good for girls to delay having children. Likewise, informational ings over 10 months. The meetings, which were implemented meetings alone and combined with financial incentives improved by local non-governmental organizations, provided parents the likelihood that families would see a secondary school educa- with information about the benefits of preschool in terms of tion and higher as appropriate for girls. future success for their children in school and afterwards. The meetings promoted interaction between teachers and school of- However, the program didn’t benefit children’s ficials, and because they were held in the schools, parents had a cognitive development, and in some developmental chance to see where their children would be enrolled. domains, it even had negative effects that were In communities that didn’t receive any intervention, only worse for Roma and Turkish children. 5.6 percent of households attended some form of information sessions in the school. In the areas that just received the in- Neither providing information about preschool nor easing the formation campaign, parents were 28 percentage points more financial constraints associated with it significantly improved literacy, numeracy, or social-emotional skills. In fact, es- tervention on child development are also visible on Roma and timated average impacts were negative for children’s nu- Turkish who do speak Bulgarian at home. meracy skills among groups receiving information, free access, additional financial incentives, or a combination Lower parental involvement, combined with teacher of the interventions. This means that when compared to quality, also may explain why children’s cognitive children in the control group, which didn’t receive access and social-emotional skills didn’t improve when to free preschool or the information campaign, children they went to preschool. in the treatment groups actually showed a decline in nu- meracy skills. These negative effects were seen only among Parents whose children attended the full-day kindergarten minority Roma and Turkish children, but not the Bulgar- reported that they were less likely to read a book, tell a story, ian children. In addition, among the Roma and Turkish or sing to their child. In the control communities, for exam- children who had access to free preschool, there was a de- ple, 69 percent of parents report telling their child a story, cline in their social-emotional skills when compared with as compared with only 48 to 59 percent in the treatment children in the control group. communities, depending on the exact intervention. Parents It’s unclear why participating in preschool didn’t improve seem to have viewed kindergarten as a replacement for what children’s development, but it’s possible that one year in school they normally would have done at home. The change was was too short a period for any improvements to appear. Re- particularly prominent within minority families. Social- searchers are now conducting a follow-up study to determine if emotional skills require a stable and confident interpersonal preschool exposure may have positive impacts three years after relationship, which children were likely receiving at home. the program. Nearly three quarters of the Roma and Turkish In the classroom, however, they may not have bonded with EDUCATION children don’t speak Bulgarian at home and so the transition their teacher. Moreover, in the absence of a Roma teaching into a classroom, where the language of instruction is Bulgar- assistant in the classroom, there may have been cultural gaps ian, may take a while. However, the negative effects of the in- between minority students and school staff. Conclusion Giving disadvantaged children access to preschool is an im- Researchers are looking into the possibility of creating a more portant first step to ensure an even playing field, so that all supportive environment for disadvantaged children—by children begin primary school with the tools they need to engaging with community mediators and hiring additional succeed. But as the results of this evaluation underscore, Roma teaching assistants to ensure that the needs of minority simply lifting barriers to enrollment isn’t always enough and children are met. Researchers also are continuing to follow disadvantaged children may need additional resources to the children in the study to measure any long-term impacts ensure they are fully benefitting from educational services. from the program. The Strategic Impact Evaluation Fund, part of the World Bank Group, supports and disseminates research evaluating the impact of development projects to help alleviate poverty. The goal is to collect and build empirical evidence that can help governments and development organizations design and implement the most appropriate and effective policies for better educational, health, and job opportunities for people in developing countries. For more information about who we are and what we do, go to: http://www.worldbank.org/sief. The Evidence to Policy note series is produced by SIEF with generous support from the British government’s Department for International Development and the London-based Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF). THE WORLD BANK, STRATEGIC IMPACT EVALUATION FUND 1818 H STREET, NW WASHINGTON, DC 20433 Series editor: Aliza Marcus; Writer: Daphna Berman For more information, contact Aliza Marcus, SIEF Senior Communications Officer at amarcus@worldbankgroup.org