2-102 - Equal Access to Early Care and Education for All? A Look at Diverse Child Populations

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

High quality early care and education (ECE) supports children’s healthy development. However, access to ECE programs can be limited and children’s ECE experiences can be very different due to children and family characteristics. This symposium examines ECE access that consider from both providers and families’ perspectives with a focus on policies that may address the ECE access issues. Paper 1 uses administrative ECE licensing data from North Carolina to examine the impacts of the great recession on the availability and quality of center- and home-based ECE programs. Results show that the availability of ECE and quality of child care homes declined due to the recession. The other three papers focus on how child care arrangements are affected by the intersection of public policies and families’ background. Paper 2 uses longitudinal data from Project SEED in Tulsa to describe the enrollment patterns and classroom experiences among low-income 3- and 4-year-olds in publicly-funded preschools across both years. Results will inform how policies can better support low-income preschoolers to access quality ECE programs. Paper 3 examines how state child care subsidy policies affect ECE enrollment among low-income children of immigrants. Results suggest that policies have differing effects for children of immigrants compared with children of native-born parents. Paper 4 uses data on child care providers and subsidy program from Minnesota to examine whether the state Quality Rating and Improvement System affects parents’ choice of ECE. Results show that the ratings have a modest effect on parents’ choice of ECE.

Sub Unit

• Social Policy

Chair

• Katherine Magnuson, University of Wisconsin

Individual Presentations

• Effects of the Great Recession on Early Education Availability and Quality: Evidence from North Carolina - Presenting Author: Justin Brian Doromal, University of Virginia

• Patterns of Enrollment, Migration, and Classroom Experiences across 3- and 4-year-old Publicly-Funded Preschool - Presenting Author: Deborah Phillips, Georgetown University; Non-Presenting Author: Jane Hutchison, Georgetown University; Non-Presenting Author: Sherri Castle, University of Oklahoma Tulsa; Non-Presenting Author: Owen Schochet, Georgetown University; Non-Presenting Author: Anna Johnson, Georgetown University

• Are State Child Care Subsidy Policies Associated with Preschool Participation for Children of Immigrants? - Presenting Author: Ying-Chun Lin, University of Wisconsin-Madison

• Measuring the Effect of Quality Ratings on Child Care Choice - Presenting Author: Jonathan Borowsky, University of Minnesota; Non-Presenting Author: Elizabeth Davis, University of Minnesota; Non-Presenting Author: Aaron Sojourner, University of Minnesota