The Politics of Policy Change in Pre-K Education: An Event History Analysis

• In Event: 58.054 - Power and Politics in State and Federal Policy: Polarized Discourse, Shifting Governmental Arrangements, Subversive Messages, and Influential Policy Networks

Abstract

Across the country, states are looking for new ways to support early childhood education and PreK offerings, in particular (Kaurez & Thorman, 2011). The purpose of this paper is to answer the following: What factors influence states to adopt PreK provisions that vary by quality? How do the conditions inside a state affect the quality of PreK policies that are adopted? Is there a border state or regional effect on adoption? And, how has the influence of the federal government through the RttT initiative influenced PreK policy adoption among the American states? Using event history analysis (EHA), we attempt to measure the influence of a set of predictors on states’ decisions to adopt policies aimed at improving PreK quality.

Authors

• Lora A. Cohen-Vogel, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

• James Sadler, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

• Michael Harris Little, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

• Rebecca Merrill, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

• Chris Curran, University of Maryland - Baltimore County