Inequality in children ’ s school readiness and public funding

In the research reported here, we examined these and related questions, exploring both the expansion in preschool attendance and its consequences, especially for disadvantaged children, and the effects of the increased outlays on early childhood education and child care over the 1990s. We drew on enrollment data from the Current Population Survey (CPS) and the newly available Early Childhood Longitudinal Study—Kindergarten Class of 1998–99 (ECLS-K). The ECLS-K collected information on school performance, in particular assessing reading ability and math skills for a large, nationally representative sample of children who entered kindergarten in fall 1998. It also assembled a rich array of family, school, preschool, and local and regional information.