Examining Preschool Expansion’s Impact on Child Care Closures: A Difference-in-Difference Approach in Multiple State Contexts

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Wednesday 11:45 am - Gold 1
  In Roundtable Session: Unforgetting Childhood: Policy, Practice, and the Futures of Early Learning

Abstract

To garner the benefits of early care and education, states are expanding preschool programs for 3- and 4-year-olds. However, expansion of state-funded preschool may have unintended negative consequences for child care access. We leverage data from three states (California, Georgia, and New Jersey) with different preschool contexts to explore the impact of preschool expansion on child care center closures and child care access for children 0- to 5-years-old. These states vary in three key ways including: stage of providing universal preschool access, ages of children served (e.g., 4-year-olds only vs. 3- and 4-year-olds), and use of a mixed-delivery pre-k system that will allow us to draw conclusions about these pre-k characteristics on child care access.

Authors

• Jennifer K. Duer, National Institute for Early Education Research

• Allison Friedman-Krauss, National Institute for Early Education Research

• Milagros Nores, Rutgers University