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Access to Early Childhood Programs for Children at Risk
By Robin Henke, Sandra L Hofferth, Phillip Kaufman, Jerry West
National Household Education Survey; May 1994

Summary: This study examined whether educationally disadvantaged or “at-risk” children have similar access to early childhood programs as children who are not at-risk and whether these programs are of the same quality. Several commonly used measures of risk were found to be associated with lower enrollment in center-based programs. These include low household income, being a child of a poorly-educated mother or a mother who was a teenager when she first became a parent, and living in a large household. Two risk factors were not found to be associated with lower enrollment—living with only one parent and having a disability. Minority race–ethnicity was not consistently associated with lower enrollment in center-based programs. Educating parents about the benefits of preschool programs is important. It could not be determined whether disadvantaged children have access to programs of similar quality as children who are not at-risk. Appendices include: (1) “Measuring the Quality of Early Childhood Programs,” (2) “Technical Notes and Methodology,” and (3) “Tables.”

Index Terms: Accessibility, At Risk Children, Child Care Arrangements, Economically Disadvantaged, Early Childhood Education

Publisher: National Center for Education Statistics

Sponsoring Institution (or Funding Source): U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement

Publication Type: Reports (Research/technical)

Pages: 111 pages
Language: English

Availability
National Center for Education Statistics
1990 K Street, NW
Washington, District of Columbia 20006
202-502-7300
http://nces.ed.gov/

 
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