The Adoption of Public Pre-Kindergarten among the American States: An Event History Analysis. Issue 6 (September 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Cohen-Vogel, Lora; Sadler, James; Little, Michael H.; Merrill, Becca; Curran, F. Chris
• Is Part Of: Educational policy. Volume 36:Issue 6(2022)
• Page Start: 1407
• Page End: 1439
• Publication Date: 2022-09
• Subjects: early childhood -- educational policy -- state policies -- legislative behavior -- policy diffusion -- policy innovation; Education and state -- United States -- Periodicals; Education -- Periodicals; 379.2
• DOI: 10.1177/0895904820961002
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0895-9048

Abstract

Over the past few decades, we have witnessed a surge in publicly funded pre-K programs in the United States. Today, policy makers in 45 states and the District of Columbia have adopted them. Combining information from twelve datasets, we use event history analysis (EHA) to examine the influence of a set of predictors on states' decisions to adopt public pre-K. Findings indicate that party dominance in the legislature, legislative professionalism, and unemployment rates are associated with pre-K adoption; regional proximity to previously adopting states is also significant. The authors discuss implications for policy makers and advocates considering future legislative action in the early childhood education sector, including the expansion of pre-K eligibility requirements.