Counterfactual Differences and Variations in the Impacts of a District-Run Universal Pre-K Program
This study investigates how the impact of district-provided pre-K programs on kindergarten readiness outcomes can depend on the counterfactual availability of early childhood education, using data from a large school district in Georgia. Students in the school district participated in a variety of different pre-K programs, with participation rates varying meaningfully across geographic communities within the district. Using reconstructed lotteries based on waitlists from oversubscribed programs, there is no evidence for an average impact on measures of kindergarten readiness for a treatment group of students attending district-provided pre-K. However, there are large, positive effects of district pre-K concentrated in some geographic communities within the school district. District Pre-K is most effective in less-advantaged communities, where the control group students are more likely to attend another subsidized pre-K program or no pre-K at all. Practice or Policy: Taken together, these results contribute to the growing literature on the role of counterfactual conditions in understanding the effectiveness of early childhood education. Future research on pre-K programming should continue to examine counterfactual conditions.
Publication: Early Education and Development
