Executive Summary: “Inequality in Preschool Education and Readiness” by Katherine Magnuson, Marcia Meyers, Christopher J. Ruhm, and Jane Waldfogel

Attendance in U.S. preschools has risen substantially in recent decades, but gaps in enrollment between children from advantaged and disadvantaged families remain. Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study - Kindergarten Cohort of 1998-99, we analyze the effect of participation in childcare and early education on children's school readiness as measured by early reading and math skills in kindergarten and first grade.

We find that children who attended a center or school-based preschool program in the year prior to school entry perform better on assessments of reading and math skills upon beginning kindergarten, after controlling for a host of family background and other factors that might be associated with selection into early education programs and relatively high academic skills. This advantage persists when children’s skills are measured in the spring of kindergarten and first grade, and children who attended early education programs are also less likely to be retained in kindergarten. In most instances, the effects are largest for disadvantaged groups, raising the possibility that policies promoting preschool enrollment of children from disadvantaged families might help to narrow the school readiness gap.

Our results have implications for policy-makers struggling with tough decisions on how much to invest in early childcare and education and what types of programs to support. The findings suggest that policies promoting center-based care for children in the year prior to kindergarten yield benefits, particularly for children from disadvantaged families. These policies are particularly important given the relatively low enrollment rates of these children.

Another implication is that prekindergarten may be particularly beneficial for children’s academic skills. Such programs were in place in 39 states in 2000, but with widely varying rates of coverage. Why might prekindergarten yield larger benefits than other types of center-based care? One possible reason is that such programs are often incorporated into public school systems, and so are typically governed by the guidelines and standards of public elementary schools which appears to result in higher quality care at least along structural dimensions, measured by the educational attainment of the caregiver and compensation of the program staff. Additionally, as school programs, prekindergarten programs may offer a more academic oriented curriculum than other preschool programs.

Key to policymakers’ decisions is an accounting of whether the programs are a worthwhile investment of limited public funds. Although a complete cost-benefit analysis is beyond the scope of this paper, our results suggest that targeted investments in prekindergarten programs may be cost-effective. Of course, we need to follow these children for longer periods of time and conduct more detailed analyses before we can draw firm conclusions about costs and benefits. Nevertheless, our results illustrate the potential gains of expanding prekindergarten programming and point to the importance of further research in this area.