The evidence for the effectiveness of family- and center-based early childhood education programs

Early Childhood Education (ECE) provides compensatory educational programs both in preschools and the early grades of primary school, and for parents at home. The aim of this policy is to prevent young children from disadvantaged backgrounds starting formal schooling with significant educational delays. In many countries ECE programs are in existence for several decades now. The search in this article is for the scientific evidence-base of this policy. While the focus is on the Netherlands, the findings probably also are valid for many other countries.