Efeitos do Programa Primeira Infância Melhor sobre a proficiência em matemática e português de alunos do ciclo de alfabetização

Abstract

This study proposes to evaluate the effects of the Programa Primeira Infância Melhor (PIM) - Better Early Childhood Program - on Portuguese and Mathematics proficiency of students at the end of the literacy cycle, as measured by school-level average test scores using data from the National Literacy Assessment (ANA) test of 2014. This work seeks to relate the average performance of 3rd grade elementary school students in Mathemathics, reading and writing tests to exposure to the program. The study uses the Differences in Differences strategy for a cross-sectional analysis comparing the performance of the program’s target and non-target groups. The results suggest the existence of positive PIM effects on school grades, especially when exposure to the program begins at an earlier age.