Going the Distance: Disparities in Pre-K Enrollment in Higher-Quality Schools by Geographic Proximity, Race/Ethnicity, Family Income, and Home Language

Abstract

This study leverages six years of public prekindergarten (pre-K) and kindergarten data (N = 22,469) from the Boston Public Schools (BPS) to examine enrollment in BPS pre-K from 2012–2017 for students from different racial/ethnic, socioeconomic, and linguistic groups. The largest differences in enrollment emerged with respect to race and ethnicity—and for enrollment in programs in higher-quality schools (defined as schools scoring in the top quartile on third-grade standardized tests)—with disparities increasing over time. Although there were no differences across groups in proximity to BPS pre-K programs in general, Black students lived about a quarter of a mile farther than their White peers from the nearest program in a higher-quality school, with gaps widening over time. Closer proximity was associated with a higher likelihood of enrollment in a program in a higher-quality school. Implications for future research and policy are discussed.