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The Effects Of Oklahoma's Universal Preschool Policy On Long-Term Educational Outcomes For Students, Betsy Morgan, Madison Stoecker

Senior Honors Papers / Undergraduate Theses

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 …