Labour Markets, Human Resources and Social Policy
Kindergarten Attendance and Educational Success - An Analysis Based on the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP)
This project analyzed the
effect of kindergarten attendance on school attainment in Germany. School
attainment was measured as secondary school track choice and school grades at
age 16. Using longitudinal data from the German Socio-economic Panel (GSOEP)
1984-2005, we assemble a panel of 1,322 14-year-olds for which we found information
for at least 12 consecutive years. We responded to the selectivity of the kindergarten
decision by controlling for the socio-economic status of the parents and family
structure during early childhood. 76 percent of the children in our sample
attended kindergarten for two or three years, mostly parttime. 20 percent of
the children in the sample attended kindergarten fulltime, and four percent
never visited a kindergarten. According to the econometric results children who
attended the kindergarten parttime had a higher probability (plus 18 percent)
for entering high school ("Gymnasium") compared to the children who
attended a kindergarten fulltime. So the results suggests that staying in
kindergarten fulltime had no positive influence of entering high school in
Germany.
Duration: 01.01.2007 - 31.12.2007
Landvoigt, Tim, Grit Mühler and Friedhelm Pfeiffer (2007), Duration and Intensity of Kindergarten Attendance and Secondary School Track Choice, ZEW Discussion Paper No. 07-051, Mannheim. Download
