The Impacts of Expanding Access to High-Quality Preschool Education

Abstract

President Obama's "Preschool for All" initiative calls for dramatic increases in the number of 4 year olds enrolled in public preschool programs and in the quality of these programs nationwide. The proposed program shares many characteristics with the universal preschools that have been offered in Georgia and Oklahoma since the 1990s. This study draws together data from multiple sources to estimate the impacts of these "model" state programs on preschool enrollment and a broad set of family and child outcomes. We find that the state programs have increased the preschool enrollment rates of children from lower-and higher-income families alike. For lower-income families, our findings also suggest that the programs have increased the amount of time mothers and children spend together on activities such as reading, the chances that mothers work, and children's test performance as late as eighth grade. For higher-income families, however, we find that the programs have shifted children from private to public preschools, resulting in less of an impact on overall enrollment but a reduction in childcare expenses, and have had no positive effect on children's later test scores.

Does Schooling Increase or Reduce Social Inequality?

“…It is difficult to distinguish these contributions on the basis of the cases we have examined. There is good evidence that high-SES parents are substantially more likely to send their children to a private school (or a school-like environment such as center-based care or part-time nursery school) when universal prekindergarten schooling is not available (Cascio & Schanzenbach 2013, Duncan & Magnuson 2013. Hence, it can be argued that the provision of universal preschool equalizes access to school for young children.…”

Do High-Quality Kindergarten and First-Grade Classrooms Mitigate Preschool Fadeout?

“…Such views have been shaped by long-run experimental evidence from some model programs (i.e., Perry Preschool, Abecedarian), showing that, in addition to end-of-preschool impacts on school readiness, preschool participants are less likely to be retained or drop out of high school, as well as more likely to attend a 4-year college compared with children who did not attend preschool, and have increased rates of employment and earnings, as well as lower rates of adult poverty and arrest, perhaps as a result of increased educational attainment and skill (Barnett & Masse, 2007; Belfield, Nores, Barnett, & Schweinhart, 2006; Campbell et al, 2014; Campbell et al, 2012; Campbell, Ramey, Pungello, Sparling, & Miller-Johnson, 2002; Campbell et al., 2008; Schweinhart, 2005). Strong quasi-experimental studies find substantial intermediate effects of attending state preschool programs on school achievement in the elementary and middle school years (Andrews, Jargowsky, & Kuhne, 2012; Cascio & Schanzenbach, 2013). Notably, a series of studies by Dodge, Ladd, & Muschkin (2017; 2014; 2015) on North Carolina’s public preschool funding found positive impacts on achievement, and a reduction in grade retention, and special education placement through the end of fifth grade.…”

Economically Deprived and Marginalized Scholars: Their Lifestyles, Experiences, Challenges and Aspirations

“…Almost two-thirds of undergraduates who work consider themselves "students who work"; the other third consider themselves "workers who study" (J. Orszag, P. Orszag, and Diane M. Whitmore, 2001) [9].…”

“…Over 60 percent of college students report that their parents now expect them to work during the school year to help cover expenses. More students are working, and more are working longer hours (Diane M. Whitmore, 2001) [9]. larship is the Grant-in-aid Scholarship.…”