PUB TYPE Speeches/Conference Papers (150) Reports Descriptive (141)

This paper describes the impact of three early childhood education research programs in Australia, Singapore, and Malaysia, and funded by the Bernard van Leer Foundation. The Mount Druitt Project in Australia has implemented institution- and home-based educational programs, which also monitor children's physical development and work closely with parents. One of the most important outcomes has been the spread of preschools into the Government system, especially in disadvantaged areas. There has been little short-term effect on school performance; lasting effects are more closely related to social and attitudinal development than to cognitive variables. The Singapore Project is a 9-year longitudinal study investigating cognitive and social development in preschoolers in three 3-year phases: (1) collecting baseline data on the normative development of 3,000 preschoolers; (2) providing center-base