The Influence of Families’ Resources, Preferences, and Constraints on their Children’s Early Care and Education Experiences

• In Event: Promising Scholarship in Education Research: Dissertation Fellows and Their Research

Abstract

The Influence of Families’ Resources, Preferences, and Constraints
on their Children’s Early Care and Education Experiences

The socioeconomic opportunity gap is of concern nationally and locally, as many districts across the United States move towards models of universal preschool as a point of early intervention. Research supports the potential for high-quality early care and education (ECE) programs to promote the immediate cognitive outcomes of children from families facing economic marginalization. However, despite educators’ and policy-makers’ best efforts, the benefits of ECE programs may be curtailed by children’s absenteeism and lower rates of enrollment in high-quality, center-based ECE programs. Additionally, these two elements of dosage may contribute to underestimates of the true effects of preschool programs like Head Start. I use data from the Head Start Impact Study across three studies to examine the role of child, family, and neighborhood factors on parents’ selection into different ECE settings (e.g., family care homes, preschool centers) and absenteeism levels, and how these elements together influence children’s cognitive outcomes. Overall, I find that barriers related to child health, behavior problems, and parents’ challenges finding ECE contribute to higher rates of absenteeism and a higher likelihood of selecting informal ECE. Additionally, there is significant variation in the effects of Head Start by alternative care arrangement and rates of absenteeism. These studies provide additional nuance to existing Head Start estimates to suggest that prior studies may not have accounted for all the potential sources of variation. Additionally, these findings advance the field’s understanding of the barriers facing low-income families in their efforts to access high-quality ECE.

Author

• Jill Gandhi, Columbia University