Estimating the Consequences of Norway’s National Scale-Up of Early Childhood Education and Care (Beginning in Infancy) for Early Language Skills

Oct 15, 2026

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Norway expanded universal early childhood education and care (ECEC) starting at age 1, offering a setting to study whether large-scale, public funding can improve children’s early language skills. Using variation in ECEC coverage across birth cohorts and municipalities in a population sample (n=63,350), two-stage least squares and generalized difference-in-differences estimates show improved language outcomes from the universal scale-up, especially for low-income children. The findings inform the debate between universal and targeted ECEC policies and support initiating programs as early as infancy.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages16

Reading Time40 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Universal ECEC Scale-Up and Policy Debate

Study Design and Identification Strategy

Evidence from Prior Research

Potential Mechanisms for Language and Achievement Gaps

AERA Open January-March 2018, Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 1–16 DOI: 10. 1177/2332858418756598 © The Author(s) 2018. [http://journals.sagepub.com/home/ero](http://journals.sagepub.com/home/ero) Estimating the Consequences of Norway’s National Scale-Up of Early Childhood Education and Care (Beginning in Infancy) for Early Language Skills Eric Dearing Boston College Norwegian Center for Child Behavioral Development Henrik Daae Zachrisson Norwegian Center for Child Behavioral Development University of Oslo Arnstein Mykletun University of Tromsø Norwegian Institute of Public Health Haukeland University Hospital Nordland Hospital Trust Claudio O. Toppelberg Judge Baker Children’s Center Harvard Medical School While most early childhood education and care (ECEC) programs taken to scale in the United States have served socially disadvantaged 3- to 5-years-olds, Norway scaled up universal ECEC from age 1. We investigated the consequences of Norway’s universal ECEC scale-up for children’s early language skills, exploiting variation in ECEC coverage across birth cohorts and municipalities in a population-based sample (n = 63,350). Estimates from two-stage least squares (i.e., instrumental variable) regression and generalized difference-in-differences models indicated the scale-up of universal ECEC led to improved language outcomes, particularly for low-income children. As preschool programs at scale become increasingly common in the United States, our results from Norway help inform debate about the merits of universal versus targeted policies and should provoke discussion about the benefits of beginning ECEC programs as early as infancy. Keywords: Child Development, Early Childhood, Econometric Analysis, Educational Policy, Longitudinal Studies, Policy Analysis, Poverty With scientists and policy decision makers lauding the promise of early childhood education and care (ECEC) for raising the achievement of disadvantaged children, there remains concern about whether large-scale, public-funded ECEC programs can replicate the results of small-scale interventions (European Commission, 2011; Farran, 2016; Magnuson & Shager, 2010; Obama, 2014; Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD], 2006; Yoshikawa et al. , 2013) . There are also questions (Barnett, 2010, 2011) about whether scale-up should be universal (i.e. , designed to serve all children) or targeted (i.e., exclusively serving disadvantaged children). To date, scale-up efforts in the United States have largely been targeted programs for disadvantaged preschoolers (3- to 5-year-olds), but some nations now provide publicly funded, universal ECEC beginning in infancy. Norway is a case in point, having taken universal ECEC, beginning at age 1, to a national scale. As a complement to growing evidence about scale-up in the United States, we investigated the consequences of Norway’s scale-up of ECEC forchildren’s early language skills. In doing so, we examined whether the universal scale-up had differential consequences for children from low-income versus middle-and high-income families. Creative Commons Non Commercial CC BY-NC: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License ([http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/](http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/)) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages ([https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage](https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage)). Dearing et al. Preschool ECEC and the Achievement of Socially Disadvantaged Children Given evidence that social inequality in achievement may be largely attributed to limited developmental stimulation in the home (e.g., Dearing, 2014; Hackman, Farah,& Meaney, 2010; Hoff, 2006; Shonkoff & Phillips,

FAQs

What is the study’s main research question?

Whether Norway’s national scale-up of universal ECEC beginning in infancy improves children’s early language skills, and whether effects differ by family income.

How is the impact of ECEC scale-up estimated?

The study uses variation in ECEC coverage across birth cohorts and municipalities, applying two-stage least squares (instrumental variables) and generalized difference-in-differences models.

What do the results show for low-income children?

Universal ECEC scale-up leads to improved language outcomes, particularly for low-income children.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Cipher