Executive Summary: “Who Gets an Early Education? Family Income and the Enrollment of 3- to 5-Year-Olds from 1968 to 2000” by Jay Bainbridge, Marcia Meyers, Sakiko Tanaka, and Jane Waldfogel

Has inequality in access to early education been growing or lessening over time?  Using the October Current Population Survey education supplement from 1968 to 2000, we look at 3-, 4- and 5-year-olds’ enrollment in early education — including center-based care, Head Start, nursery school, pre-kindergarten, and kindergarten.  Our analysis shows a strong link between family income and early education enrollment for 3- and 4-year-olds, especially when we compare the bottom two and the top two income groups.  These differences remain even after controlling for a large variety of factors, including race/ethnicity, maternal employment, family structure, and parental education.  Inequality in early education by income group varies by age of child: it is most pronounced for 3-year-olds, who have been the least likely to benefit from public early childhood education programs; it has diminished in the past decade for 4-year-olds, who have been increasingly likely to have access to public pre-kindergarten programs; and it has all but disappeared for the 5-year-olds, who now largely attend public kindergarten.  This pattern suggests a potentially important role for public policy in closing the gap in early education between children of different income groups.

To what extent should we be concerned that 3 and 4 year old children from lower-income families are less likely to be enrolled in early education?  We need to be careful in drawing strong conclusions here.  Knowing that a child is enrolled in “school” says nothing about the quality of care children receive in that setting, nor about the counterfactual of what they would be receiving at home or in a non-school child care setting.  Yet, we think some concern is warranted.  There is a sizeable literature that suggests that, all else equal, children who have attended pre-school enter school more ready to learn.  Moreover, to the extent that higher-income families use their additional income to enroll their pre-schoolers in an early education program, we may infer that these programs are a valuable commodity.  If it is of value, the fact that children from higher income families, and families with more educated parents, are more likely to receive it, is particularly concerning.  Children from low income or less educated, families may be “doubly disadvantaged” – less likely to benefit from resources that promote school readiness at home and less likely to benefit from being enrolled in educationally oriented pre-school programs outside the home.