Closing the Gap: The Effects of Washington D.C.’s Universal Pre-Kindergarten Program on Children’s School Readiness

Abstract

The U.S. enrolls far fewer of its three- and four-year-olds ahead of kindergarten entry compared to peer nations in the OECD. Furthermore, there exist large, identifiable gaps in school readiness, as children, particularly those who are black, Hispanic, or from families whose primary household language is non- English, start kindergarten much less well prepared as measured by academic, cognitive, and behavioral school readiness measures. Given that these school readiness gaps, along with existing achievement gaps at kindergarten entry, are strong predictors of future academic, economic, and health outcomes, there is a strong need to identify programs which can ameliorate these gaps. Expansions in public pre-k are touted by policymakers as one possible solution.

Washington D.C. is an example of a city that expanded universal pre-k both to three- and four-year-olds, with an eye to quality of program. Through the Pre- K Enhancement and Expansion Act of 2008 (PKEEA), D.C. now enrolls 66% and 88% of its three- and four-year-olds respectively, which are the highest enrollment percentages among U.S. states for both age groups. I examine PKEEA’s effect on school readiness outcomes for D.C.’s young children in order to fill a gap in the literature regarding the effects of D.C.’s implementation of PKEEA.

Utilizing National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH) data from 2016, I conduct an intent-to-treat analysis of the effects of PKEEA on school readiness. I estimate ordinary least squares’ regression models to identify the average effects of the policy as well as heterogenous treatment effects across student groups. I find that there is generally a catch-up effect in which D.C. children that are behind on certain outcomes at the age of three catch up on those outcomes by the age of five. For children from households that do not speak English and black students, I observe moderate-to-large positive effects compared to children who speak English at home and white students. These effects are especially present on school readiness measures that are more likely to be attended to in classroom-based pre-k programs. While my estimates are imprecise due to the small number of DC children enrolled in the NSCH, they suggest that D.C. pre-k has helped attenuate school readiness gaps, especially between white and black children, and children from households whose primary language is non-English versus those from primarily-English- speaking households.