Pre-K leaders can use data to identify barriers for families experiencing poverty and to inform programmatic and policy improvements to better meet their needs. The Pre-K Data Equity Framework will encourage collection of data on the types of barriers these families face and can better equip leaders and programs to meet families’ needs through responsive and flexible programming.

The official threshold used to define poverty in the United States is intended to reflect insufficient income for meeting basic needs, such as food, clothing, shelter, and utilities. However, many experts critique the official threshold for being too low and not accounting for geographic differences in the cost of living. The Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM), however, does account for current living needs and expenses. Despite the fact that child poverty rates are at their lowest point in 25 years—largely due to federal social safety net programs—there are still 1 in 10 children experiencing poverty, based on SPM figures. Additionally, 3 percent of all children live in what is considered deep poverty, or in families with net resources that amount to less than 50 percent of the supplemental poverty threshold. Although there have been broad declines in poverty, disparities persist: The social safety net yields less benefit for children in immigrant families or from Hispanic or Asian/Hawaiian/Pacific Islander backgrounds, relative to their non-immigrant, Black, or White peers.

Poverty is driven by a range of historical and structural inequities, such as low and unequal wages, workforce discrimination, high costs of living that require more than half of a family or household’s income to be spent on housing, unfair housing policies and practices like redlining that create racially segregated communities with concentrated poverty, unequal access to paid family and medical leave and other benefits that force a choice between income and health, and mass incarceration—the latter of which promotes poverty, shapes job opportunities post-incarceration, and hinders positive child outcomes. The pervasiveness of systemic inequities contributes to the generational nature of poverty and to related stress for families. Such systemic inequities also contribute to disproportionality in who experiences poverty, such as situational poverty due to the COVID-19 pandemic or job loss, and shapes families’ access to supports to manage related financial hardship. Families and children of color—including Black, Hispanic or Latino, and Indigenous families—are disproportionately more likely to experience poverty and related trauma.

The quality of a child’s education can prevent—or promote—poverty, even from the earliest experiences in the education system. Children from families experiencing poverty are more likely to live in communities where accessible pre-K programs are of low quality and have limited funding and resources, thereby undermining their opportunity to benefit from high-quality pre-K programs. Similarly, rural communities, disproportionately impacted by poverty and child care desserts, contend with challenges around sufficient supply of existing early childhood programs. Although socioeconomically diverse classrooms may offer some benefits for children, the importance of high-quality pre-K programs—regardless of their demographic makeup—cannot be overstated. Families experiencing poverty may also be at a disadvantage when navigating such challenges as transportation to and from pre-K programs, limited sick leave to adhere to programs’ sick policies, or program hours that do not align with work hours, including inflexible and nonstandard work hours.

There are some false perceptions that families experiencing poverty do not want to be involved in their child’s education. However, families experiencing poverty value their children’s education and desire to be involved despite barriers such as cultural differences and experiences with racism. For example, Black mothers of preschoolers enrolled in Head Start viewed parents’ role in children’s learning as either a primary role or as a collaborative partnership with the child’s teacher. Parents saw helping children within the home environment as a key means of staying involved—for example, by leveraging children’s television shows for home projects or practicing positive classroom behaviors. The lived experience of families experiencing poverty can inform more supportive program environments.

Data on the types of barriers faced by families experiencing poverty can better equip pre-K leaders and programs to meet these families’ needs through responsive and flexible programming.

Data can help pre-K leaders identify and address inequities in program access, quality, and treatment experienced by Black, Hispanic/Latino, and Indigenous children. The Pre-K Data Equity Framework will help capture data for disaggregation by race and ethnicity as a first step toward identifying and dismantling practices and policies that exclude or result in biased treatment on the basis of race/ethnicity.

Within and across focal racial/ethnic groups—including Black, Hispanic/Latino, and Indigenous groups—children and families represent a range of diverse cultures and experiences. However, these groups have experienced persistent disparities due to systemic racism—for example, in housing (e.g., predatory lending, exclusionary zoning, discriminatory appraisals) and health care industries (e.g., lack of timely treatment; lower-quality care; employer-sponsored health care that disproportionately excludes Black, Latino, and American Indian and Alaska Native persons in low-wage jobs; and disparities in maternal health).

Such disparities existed within the early childhood system even in its earliest forms. Historically, early childhood systems were developed and administered in ways that deprioritized Black children and families. For example, day nurseries limited or denied enrollment of Black families, necessitating creation of day nursery programs by and within Black communities. Similarly, pensions provided to mothers experiencing poverty for caretaking in the home often barred Black mothers. Although current early childhood systems have sought to prioritize groups that are traditionally underserved, racial and ethnic disparities remain. For example, among 3- and 4-year old children, Hispanic children had the lowest school enrollment in 2020 (33%) whereas White children had the highest enrollment (43%).

Within early care and education, enrolled children and families of color experience such challenges as limited access to high-quality programs and biased treatment. For example, Indigenous and Hispanic/Latino families are more likely to live in child care deserts, resulting in more limited access to early educational experiences. Children of color have disparate access to pre-K programming, which can reflect challenges around the availability of options—or, especially, of high-quality options. For example, within a universal pre-K model, Black children had greater access to lower-quality programs than White children, a disparity related, in part, to differential proximity—or how close a program was located to the places where children and families lived. Program quality may be tied to factors such geographic location or racial/ethnic (and economic) segregation across programs—although high-quality programming should be available to all children regardless of where programs operate or the demographics of a community. Additionally, teachers were found to view Black and Hispanic pre-K children as having more behavioral problems than their White peers, despite no discernible differences in observed behavior; this perception has implications for teacher-student interactions, children’s learning, and overall experiences in pre-K.

Disparities in discipline are also apparent among pre-K children. For example, Black and American Indian or Alaska Native children experience high rates of exclusionary discipline. Black children are also more likely to be suspended or expelled than their White counterparts for similar behaviors. Additionally, Black pre-K girls experience the highest rates of exclusionary discipline compared to girls of other racial/ethnic backgrounds. Exclusionary discipline further limits access to care and can negatively impact children’s emotional well-being.

Data about enrollment and experiences in pre-K programs, disaggregated by race and ethnicity, is a first step toward identifying and dismantling practices and policies that exclude or result in biased treatment of Black, Hispanic/Latino, and Indigenous families.

Pre-K leaders can use data to understand indicators of need for a disability identification, inform needed supports, strengthen inclusivity, and develop a holistic view of skills and knowledge among children with disabilities. The Pre-K Data Equity Framework will help capture data to better understand disparities around enrollment, exclusionary discipline, and service provision experienced by children with disabilities within pre-K.

In 2019, about 6.7 percent of children ages 3 to 5 were served under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), an increase from 5.9 percent in 2010. Children with disabilities accounted for just under a quarter (22.7%) of pre-K enrollment in 2017-2018. Participation in pre-K programming can aid in identification of and provision of services for children with a disability. However, there are variations in identification across programs: Programs that serve a majority of children and families of color are less likely to identify children of color than programs serving a majority of White children and families. There are also disparities in disability identification by type of disability, with identification of intellectual disabilities highest for Black students and specific learning disabilities higher among Pacific Islander, Hispanic, American Indian/Alaska Native, and Black students. An overrepresentation of Black, Hispanic, and American Indian/Alaska Native students served under IDEA in later grades—a disparity not found in earlier grades—indicates that there may be missed opportunities in identification and support.

Inclusive learning environments—or those that allow for full and meaningful participation of children with disabilities through appropriate services and supports alongside children without disabilities—have benefits for children with and without disabilities. These benefits include improved language and social skills for children with disabilities and, for children without disabilities, the development of life skills such as helping, empathy, and compassion. Yet within pre-K settings, children with disabilities are often placed within segregated learning environments, a practice that is linked to later segregation from K-12 environments and is more pronounced for Black, Hispanic, and American Indian students in later grades. There are also higher rates of exclusionary discipline among children with disabilities than among children without disabilities.

Broader disciplinary practices within pre-K settings that remove or exclude children from the learning environment may also delay or prevent identification of a disability. Missed identification hinders children’s receipt of services under IDEA, including special protections around discriminatory discipline. Given that Black and American Indian/Alaska Native children experience exceptionally high rates of discipline in pre-K settings, they may also have disproportionate experiences around identification for and receipt of needed services. Among those receiving services, systemic challenges around cross-system coordination of comprehensive services can limit their full participation in pre-K settings. Families of children with disabilities also face other challenges, such as concerns over quality and safety, turnover of qualified special education staff, and uncertain availability of disability accommodations to fully meet care needs.

Data systems can be used to better understand rates of enrollment, exclusionary discipline, and service provision for children with disabilities, as well as the extent of disparities within these areas; it can also give a holistic view of these children’s skills and knowledge.

Pre-K leaders can leverage data systems to inform efforts to enroll and sustain engagement among children and families from immigrant backgrounds, and to better equip pre-K systems to support and serve these families. The Pre-K Data Equity Framework will help clarify the presence and diversity of children and families from immigrant backgrounds being served in pre-K, as well as the differing needs and experiences within and across immigrant communities.

Nearly 25 percent of children under age 5 have a parent who is an immigrant. Early childhood settings may be the first source of exposure to American culture for families who are immigrants. Immigrant families take on the challenge of navigating new systems and cultures while fighting to preserve their own. There is a diversity of experiences within the immigrant population, and multiple aspects of identity—such as race/ethnicity, income, and language—influence how they are treated and how others perceive them. Within and across immigrant groups, a multitude of rich cultures and past experiences enrich children’s development and can be affirmed in programs. Immigrant communities draw on various forms of cultural capital, such as high aspirations, family and social networks, and resistance to inequity, many of which can support children’s education and learning. However, immigrant families are disproportionately likely to experience challenges around such issues as poverty or health care access due to systemic barriers and exclusionary policies, like eligibility requirements for social safety net programs or health insurance.

Research demonstrated that children of immigrants benefit from high-quality pre-K, yet their rates of enrollment are lower than that of their non-immigrant peers. Only 36 percent of children from immigrant families are enrolled in pre-K compared to 41 percent for non-immigrant families. Concerns around immigration policies and privacy have impacted families’ enrollment and attendance in early care and education programs and their access to subsidy programs. Additionally, immigrant children and families may experience challenges in programs that do not address language and communication barriers or that have unwelcoming environments, which can also limit access to important information about types of programs, subsidies, or networks of support and resources. Further, staff at these programs may also be less familiar with cultural norms and values or lack knowledge about the related stress or trauma that families of immigrants may have experienced—all of which impacts the quality of care they can provide.

Data systems can inform efforts to enroll, support, and sustain engagement of children in immigrant families; better equip pre-K systems to understand the diversity within and across immigrant communities being served; and better meet their needs.

Pre-K leaders can use data to identify effective communication and engagement strategies to better engage children and families with multilingual learners. The Pre-K Data Equity Framework will encourage the collection of data on the home languages and dialects of children and staff within programs to support efforts to offer accessible language options, appropriate curricula, and capacity-building supports for the workforce. 

Multilingual learners make up about 23 percent of the pre-K population. Being multilingual has a range of benefits, such as brain development, executive function, academic skills, and cultural ties. It is common for these students to have their first exposure to English when enrolled in a pre-K program. Multilingual learning environments that maintain children’s home languages and foster their overall English language development can support optimal outcomes for multilingual children’s academic and social-emotional development. However, programs often have a shortage of multilingual staff. Indeed, families with multilingual learners often consider language preference, match between home and program language, and languages of instruction when selecting care. Programs struggle with supporting multilingual learners and their families, reflecting the need for supportive policies to, for example, monitor English and native language acquisition and engage in culturally and linguistically responsive approaches. Notably, children and families’ linguistic capabilities include different and valid ways of communicating within or across languages, such as their use of multiple dialects or code-switching.

Data on the home languages and dialects of children and staff within programs—and on families in surrounding communities—can help pre-K leaders better identify and offer needed language accessibility, appropriate curricula, workforce supports, and family engagement strategies (such as two-generation approaches for helping families of children learn English while maintaining their home language).

Pre-K leaders can use data to clarify and address disparities within pre-K workforce members’ experiences that can undermine their well-being and capacity to support children and families. The Pre-K Data Equity Framework will support the collection of data on workforce characteristics, compensation, educator training, and related policies and practices to help us better understand inequities affecting the workforce.

Given the importance of understanding the identities (and identity-related experiences) of children and families served in pre-K, it is also important to recognize that pre-K workforce members can also hold these same identities and experience similar inequities. In 2012, estimates of the national early care and education center- and home-based workforce were, respectively, 17 percent and 14 percent non-Hispanic Black, 14 percent and 15 percent Hispanic, and 11 percent and 17 percent non-U.S. born workforce members. Pre-K workforce members—as with the children and families they serve—face inequities in their jobs and lives based on race/ethnicity, income level, immigration status, and language. For example, Black pre-K educators are paid, on average, $1.71 less per hour than their White peers. Insufficient wages are associated with the economic insecurity of the early educator workforce, with 43 percent of pre-K and kindergarten teachers turning to public programs for food and income support to meet basic needs.

Although staff from immigrant backgrounds expand the racial and linguistic diversity of the early care and education workforce, help fulfill the cultural and linguistic matches that many families seek, and benefit children’s learning, they are much less likely to be represented in pre-K teacher and program director roles than their U.S.-born peers.

Data systems that track information around workforce characteristics, compensation, educator training, and related policies and practices can help us understand inequities affecting the workforce that impact their ability to provide stable and supportive learning environments for pre-K children.