2025 Theses Doctoral

Three Essays on Publicly Funded Pre-kindergarten Policy

Cha, Eunho

This dissertation comprises three papers that explore the role of public pre-K policies in shaping access to early education, families’ economic well-being, and child development.

The first paper examines whether the income-based preschool enrollment gap narrowed between 1994 and 2023 and identifies the factors contributing to the gap. The second paper evaluates the effects of New York City’s universal pre-K expansion for three-year-old children on maternal employment, household income, and material hardship. The third paper investigates how pre-K attendance predicts children’s cognitive development and educational transitions across developmental stages—early childhood, middle childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood.

The findings from this dissertation demonstrate the dual role of publicly funded pre-K programs in supporting both parents and children.