Who Enrolls in Public Preschool Programs and Why? Evidence From the Boston Public Schools

• In Event: 31.066 - Patterns of Preschool Enrollment Across Diverse Localities: Results From the Early Learning Research Network

Abstract

Recent work demonstrates that high-quality preschool programs have the capacity to reduce early income- and race-based achievement gaps (Yoshikawa et al., 2013). In addition, although a number of rigorous studies have demonstrated that low-income, Hispanic, and dual language learner (DLL) children are most likely to benefit from high-quality programming (e.g., Bloom & Weiland, 2015; Duncan & Magnuson, 2013), these groups are least likely to enroll in preschool (Barnett et al., 2015). More work is needed to understand the group of children whose parents choose not to enroll them in high-quality preschool programs – including what care they were exposed to in the absence of public preschool – and determine the core reasons driving disproportionate take-up of publicly-funded programming.
The current study leverages a large, representative dataset of children who did and did not apply for slots in the publicly-funded Boston Public Schools (BPS) preschool program but did begin public kindergarten in BPS in Fall 2017. Prior work has documented that the BPS preschool program yields moderate to large effects on children’s school readiness skills (Weiland & Yoshikawa, 2013). The study describes the demographic characteristics and academic and social-emotional skills of children who enrolled in the preschool program versus those who did not. Finally, the study uses parent survey data to determine the key reasons driving parents’ decisions to enroll or not enroll their child in public preschool.
The sample for the study is made up of N = 307 preschool attenders and N = 180 non-attenders. The team recruited children from 20 elementary schools and 53 kindergarten classrooms. Parents completed a survey and the research team assessed children on receptive language (PPVT), math (Woodcock Johnson Applied Problems), executive functioning (Hearts & Flowers; Digit Span), and social-emotional skills (SSIS) in the fall of kindergarten.
Results demonstrated that the majority of public preschool non-attenders enrolled in Head Start or a child-care center, while fewer non-attenders stayed at home with parents the majority of the time (Table 1). Non-attenders were more likely than attenders to be Hispanic, DLLs, and eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. Attenders performed better than non-attenders across all measures of academic and executive functioning skills (Figures 1 - 3) and results were mixed for social-emotional skills with attenders having higher engagement and lower inattention/hyperactivity and non-attenders having lower internalizing behaviors (Figure 4). The primary reasons for not applying for or enrolling in the BPS preschool program were lack of sufficient information on how to apply, already having enrolled in a suitable care arrangement, and applying to the public program but not being assigned to a top choice school.
This descriptive study finds evidence that Hispanic, DLL, and low-income children are less likely to enroll in a high-quality public preschool program and also have lower levels of academic skills at kindergarten entry. Survey results suggest that strategies to enhance the amount and quality of information on the preschool application process might be one avenue to reduce these differences. Future work should consider interventions to share information strategically to reduce disparities in public preschool enrollment.

Authors

• Meghan McCormick, MDRC

• Christina Weiland, University of Michigan

• JoAnn Hsueh, MDRC

• Catherine E. Snow, Harvard University

• Jason Sachs, Boston Public Schools