学前教育与城乡初中学生的认知能力差距——基于CEPS数据的研究

Does Preschool Attendance Matter for the Urban-Rural Cognition Gap of Middle School Students?Evidence from CEPS

认知能力对个人的社会经济结果具有重要作用,而学前教育则是影响少年儿童认知能力发展的重要因素。然而,此前几乎没有研究利用全国性样本探讨中国城乡儿童的认知能力发展差距以及学前教育在其中的作用。本文基于对"中国教育追踪调查"基线数据的研究发现,城乡初中生在认知能力水平和学前教育经历上均存在显著差距,西部地区尤为明显。OLS回归和倾向值匹配估计发现,学前教育显著地影响学生的认知能力。Blinder-Oaxaca差异分解表明,学前教育是导致城乡初中生认知能力差距的重要原因,它可以解释七年级城乡学生认知能力差距的28%-44%。在此基础上,本文从增加农村儿童的学前教育机会、延长学前教育在园持续期两个方面模拟了学前教育发展政策在缩小城乡学生认知能力差距上的效果。

Cognitive abilities have great impact on individuals socioeconomic status. However, evidence of the effect of preschool education on urban-rural cognition gap from large-scale sample is almost nonexistent. Based on a nationally representative dataset from China Education Panel Survey, this study fills this gap by presenting evidence of significant cognition gap between urban and rural middle school students. We find a consistent positive relationship between preschool attendance and cognitive ability at grade 7 and grade 9, based on OLS and propensity score matching estimation. Results based on Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition suggest that the differences in preschool education experience between urban and rural students account for 28% to 44% of such between-group cognition gap. We also simulate the intervention effects of preschool education development policy on narrowing urban-rural cognition gap.