Behavioral Observation of Students in Schools (BOSS)
Category: Student Learning
Since 1995, publicly funded pre-K with universal eligibility has proliferated across the U.S. Universal pre-K (UPK) operates at great scale and serves children with a wide range of alternative childcare options. Because these programs are relatively young, very little is known about their long-run impacts on children. In this paper, I use a difference-in-differences (DiD) design to estimate the long-run impacts of Georgia UPK, the first statewide program. Children exposed to UPK were 1.7% more likely to graduate high school, 11.1% less likely to receive SNAP benefits as adults, and girls were 10.6% less likely to have children as teenagers. To help interpret those results, I develop a simple conceptual framework that considers how public pre-K expansions can affect the entire childcare market. For instance, greater competition could force private centers to adjust prices and quality, or to close entirely—creating spillover impacts on children not enrolled in public pre-K. Empirically, I find evidence consistent with large spillovers in Georgia, suggesting that a focus on UPK enrollees would miss a key part of the program’s overall impact. Further, I show that conventional DiD estimates of treatment effects on the treated may be substantially biased in the presence of spillovers—in the Georgia context and in others.
Keywords
Universal preschool, state-funded pre-K, long-run effects, educational attainment, equilibrium effects, Georgia
Education level
Topics
Document Object Identifier (DOI)
10.26300/k4bh-0114
