New research on early childhood education shows that children with greater access to Sesame Street in its early years performed better academically through grade school.

“These findings raise the exciting possibility that television and electronic media more generally can be leveraged to address income and racial gaps in children’s school readiness,” says economist and report co-author, Melissa Kearney of the University of Maryland.

The report, “Early Childhood Education by MOOC (massive open online courses): Lessons from Sesame Street” was published this month by the U.S.-based National Bureau of Economic Research.

While the study adds evidence to the argument that TV programming can have positive educational outcomes, researchers found no evidence of “substantive improvements in ultimate educational attainment or labour market outcomes,” Kearney and co-author, Phillip Levine of Wellesly College said.

The study looked at groups of preschool-aged children who watched Sesame Street when it premiered in 1969. Results showed that exposure to the show in pre-school years correlated with better academic performance throughout elementary school.

Children with greater exposure due to better television reception (thanks to geographic locations with the best technology for broadcasting the show) were most likely to be successful at school.

Levine and Kearney noted that the positive impacts were more pronounced for boys, as well as for children from economically disadvantaged communities.

The two also described Sesame Street as a cost-effective educational resource.

“It is remarkable that a single intervention consisting of watching a television show for an hour a day in pre-school can have such a substantial effect helping kids advance through school,” Levine said.

“Our analysis suggests that Sesame Street may be the biggest and most affordable early childhood intervention out there, at a cost of just a few dollars per child per year, with benefits that can last several years,” he added.