Date of Award

Spring 5-17-2019

Author's School

Olin Business School

Author's Program

Business Administration

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (BSBA)

Restricted/Unrestricted

Unrestricted

Abstract

As states have increased their commitment to early childhood education over the past two decades, a debate on the efficacy of state-sponsored universal preschool has divided policymakers, administrators, and taxpayers. Some critics of these programs argue that universal preschool has a diminishing impact which does not justify the up-front cost, while supporters argue that there are long-term positive effects of high quality, universal early childhood education which outweigh the cost. In this paper, we examine the effect, if any, that the existence of a state-funded universally available preschool program has had on county-level average ACT scores in a before-and-after multivariable regression analysis. This analysis was then expanded to include analysis on the impact of universal preschool on ACT scores for low-income student populations and high-enrollment student populations. We found that the existence of a universally available preschool program had a statistically significant positive effect on students and that the impact on ACT Scores was higher for low-income students.

Mentor

Tat Chan

Additional Advisors

William Bottom

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