Investing in school readiness: A comparison of different early childhood education pathways in rural Indonesia.

• Children pursue a variety of pathways through early childhood education. • Household wealth, maternal education and service quality predict pathways. • A full course of early education at the right age is linked to higher test scores. This paper documents that children in rural Indonesia participate in a great variety of early childhood education pathways. Three key factors predict early education pathways: household wealth, mother's education, and the quality of available services. We also find that children who enrolled in playgroup programs at age 3–4 followed by kindergarten programs at age 5–6 scored significantly higher on primary school tests than those enrolled only in playgroup programs or only in kindergarten programs. This suggests that the sequence of these pathways is important for future learning. We also provide illustrative estimates of the cost-effectiveness of different pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]