Investigating Regional Disparities of Preschool Education Development with Cluster Analysis in Mainland China

International Journal of Child Care and Education Policy

Table 2. Means, Standard Deviations, and Analysis of Variance Results of Tiers (N=31)

Variables	Tier 1		Tier 2		Tier 3		ANOVA	Scheffe’s
Variables	M	SD	M	SD	M	SD	F
Gross preschool enrollment rate	0.87	0.02	083	0.17	052	0.12	20.51***	Tier 1,2 > Tier 3
Student-to-teacher ratio	13.88	1.56	25.79	6.15	30.40	823	5.12**	Tier 1 < Tier 2,3
Percentage of preschool teachers with a college diploma or above	0.93	0.11	0.66	0.11	0.79	0.07	12 31***	Tie 1> Tier 3> Tier 2
Per-child preschool education spending index	19.03	0.41	8.13	287	13.34	8.86	3.19*	Tier 1,3 > Tier 2

Note: *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001. Scheffe’s post hoc analysis denoting pairs of tiers that are significantly different at .05 alpha level.