Nearly all public prekindergarten programs in the US use a mixed-delivery system, with classrooms in both public schools and community-based organizations (CBOs). This mixed-delivery approach is popular in part because it gives families a greater chance of attending a program that matches their needs, preferences, and values. But experts have long raised concerns about the “two-tier system problem,” which describes how CBOs may be at disadvantage compared with public schools in overall resources, teacher educational requirements, and teacher pay and benefits. This can lead to differences in classroom learning opportunities and children’s early learning gains, and a two-tier system could deepen existing educational inequities in the many systems where CBOs serve more children from marginalized backgrounds than public schools do. 

Analyzing Washington, DC’s universal preschool program on three dimensions can build an understanding of mixed-delivery system equity: (1) quality of the teaching and learning environment in CBOs versus public schools, (2) the evolving demographics of children in CBOs versus public schools, and (3) the policies governing CBOs and public schools in the system.

Key Takeaways

Using data on classroom quality from the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) provided through the DC Public Prekindergarten Study from 2015 to 2023, findings show the following:

• In 2022–23, DC’s public schools generally outperformed CBOs on two of the three CLASS domains (i.e., emotional support, classroom organization, and instructional support). DC comparisons favor public schools more than five other sites in instructional support and favor CBOs more than four other sites in emotional support, with the smallest difference among six sites in classroom organization.
• Between 2015–16 and 2022–23, both sectors increased in quality, with CBOs making the greatest improvements in emotional support and classroom organization and public schools making the greatest improvements in instructional support.
• By 2022–23, both sectors surpassed state benchmarks for emotional support and classroom organization but not for instructional support. The instructional support domain showed the largest difference between sectors, with public schools outperforming CBOs; in contrast, CBOs outperformed public schools in average emotional support score.
• Black students composed 34 percent of CBO enrollment and 61 percent of public school enrollment by 2022–23, following declines of 32 percentage points and 7 percentage points since 2015–16, respectively.
• White student enrollment increased over this period to 33 percent of CBO students and 18 percent of public school students in 2022–23 (increases of 30 percentage points at CBOs and 4 percentage points at public schools). Hispanic students consistently enrolled in CBOs at higher rates than at public schools, composing 27 percent of CBO enrollment in 2022–23. Asian student enrollment in CBOs increased 4 percentage points to 5 percent in 2022, while Asian public school enrollment held steady, making CBOs the more common sector for Asian families by 2022–23.
• Enrollment patterns for at-risk students differ for CBOs and public schools. By 2022–23, 29 percent of CBO students were classified as at-risk, a substantial decline from 62 percent in 2015.

Implications

DC’s mixed-delivery prekindergarten system shows strengths in both sectors. CBOs’ relative strength in emotional support and public schools’ relative strength in instructional support suggest the sectors may be making trade-offs in their investments in quality. Consistency in classroom organization across sectors and similar sector trade-offs across student groups demonstrate a level of uniformity in DC prekindergarten that other systems may be missing.

From the start, DC legislators attempted to preempt a two-tier system by establishing uniform funding per student, operating schedule, teacher entry qualifications, and group size requirements across sectors. Legislators also set comparable teacher wages and similar expectations for ongoing professional development. But DC’s mixed-delivery universal prekindergarten system shows evidence of a moderate two-tier system problem. For example, CBOs may be at a disadvantage for instructional quality by having lower requirements for teachers’ ongoing professional development (by nine hours per year) and by having different resources available for facilities, teacher recruitment, total compensation, and access to special and noninstructional resources, such as art and music teachers and social workers.

The findings add to the evidence base on how equitable access to preschool quality can differ across localities and confirm the importance of applying a two-tier lens to mixed-delivery system data. Now is a critical time to consider the two-tier system problem in prekindergarten programs across the country. CBOs were disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and are now facing financial uncertainty as federal stabilization funds run out. And disparities in prekindergarten enrollment by family income have widened. By building and rebuilding mixed-delivery systems with an eye on quality in each sector and patterns of student enrollment, policymakers can foster strong early learning opportunities alongside family and provider choice.

Additional Resources

• A Study of Public Prekindergarten in the District of Columbia
• The State of Preschool 2023: State Preschool Yearbook
• The Mixed-Delivery Pre-K Opportunity Gap? Differences in Demographics, Quality, and Children's Gains in Community-Based versus Public School Programs across Five Large-Scale Systems
• State Preschool in a Mixed Delivery System: Lessons from Five States
• Early Education Quality: Higher Teacher Qualifications for Better Learning Environments—A Review of the Literature
• “How Do Early Care and Education Workforce and Classroom Characteristics Differ between Subsidized Centers and Available Center-Based Alternatives for Low-Income Children?”
• Children’s Outcomes through Second Grade: Findings from Year 4 of Georgia’s Pre-K Longitudinal Study
• State Policies Shape the Racial and Ethnic Diversity of the Prekindergarten Workforce
• Widely Used Measures of Pre-K Classroom Quality: What We Know, Gaps in the Field, and Promising New Directions
• Historic Crisis, Historic Opportunity: Using Evidence to Mitigate the Effects of the COVID-19 Crisis on Young Children and Early Care and Education Programs