Do Publicly Funded Early Childhood Programs Work? Use of Integrated Administrative Data in Baltimore City

Abstract Despite the essential role of publicly funded ECE programs in children’s school outcomes, it remains unclear how different types of programs are used by children, and how the differential use of publicly funded programs are associated with children’s school outcomes. To bridge this gap, this study investigated how two widely-utilized publicly funded early care and education (ECE) programs, public pre-kindergarten (PreK) and Head Start (HS), are being used in Baltimore, Maryland, a historically marginalized urban community. The study also explored how differential ECE experiences are associated with children’s kindergarten readiness and on-time grade promotion. By integrating multiple sources of administrative data (e.g., birth records, public school records), we found that children demonstrated better school outcomes when they attended both public PreK and HS. This trend was most prominent among children from communities with concentrated poverty. The findings suggest that allowing the variety of ECE services and expanding the number of seats in publicly funded ECE services may benefit children from neighborhoods with highly concentrated poverty.