Preschool "Accessibility" in Arizona: Is Offering Access Enough to Create Equal Educational Opportunity?

• In Event: 16.060 - Roundtable Session 3
  In Roundtable Session: 16.060-11 - Early Childhood Education Policy, Program Quality, and Quality Rating and Improvement Systems

Abstract

The estimates from the 2012 American Community survey suggest that there were approximately 226,000 children between the ages of three and four living in Arizona, and only 10,497 children ages zero to four attended “high-quality” pre-K programs in 2015. Was this discrepancy due to the lack of the available programs and does program utilization differ by demographics of the communities? In this study, we evaluated the accessibility of childcare programs in Arizona using methods of descriptive and correlational analysis. Our findings suggest that diverse communities enjoy equal access to “high-quality” childcare as defined and measured by the number and quality distribution of the programs. However, the majority (88%) of these programs are not fully utilized.

Authors

• Kathryn P. Chapman, Arizona State University - Tempe

• Margarita Pivovarova, Arizona State University - Tempe