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ERIC Number: ED673542
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2025-Mar
Pages: 15
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: 0000-00-00
Pathways to Pre-K: Understanding Access to DC's 3-Year-Old Public Prekindergarten Program through Mapping Families' Application and Enrollment Patterns
Justin B. Doromal; Erica Greenberg; Breno Braga; Rachel Lamb; Leonardo Restrepo
Urban Institute
The District of Columbia boasts the greatest access to public prekindergarten for 3- and 4-year-old children in the United States, offering a full-day, school-year universal preschool program. High participation rates indicate that public investments in prekindergarten are supporting working families and helping DC's children thrive. However, enrollment is only one of several different steps families must take to secure a seat. This brief maps out families' experiences across these steps--the application and enrollment steps, specifically--to illustrate how families come to enroll, or not enroll, in public prekindergarten. Learning about families' entry points to public prekindergarten and the pathways they take to enrollment can help policymakers identify opportunities to increase access and tailor supports to families. The authors analyzed 2022-23 My School DC administrative lottery data and Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) enrollment data and compared findings with those from other school years, as well as how they vary geographically across DC's eight wards. Key findings show the large majority of families who enroll in a DC Pre-K3 program do so by completing an application to the My School DC lottery and enrolling at a matched school, and a significant number of children enroll in a school for Pre-K3 by completing a post-lottery application.
Urban Institute. 2100 M Street NW, Washington, DC 20037. Tel: 202-261-5687; Fax: 202-467-5775; Web site: http://www.urban.org
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: Early Childhood Education; Preschool Education
Audience: Policymakers
Language: English
Sponsor: Heising-Simons Foundation; Institute of Education Sciences (ED)
Authoring Institution: Urban Institute
Identifiers - Location: District of Columbia
IES Funded: Yes
Grant or Contract Numbers: R305A210506
Department of Education Funded: Yes
Author Affiliations: N/A