Universal prekindergarten programs, which offer free enrollment for most or all age-eligible children in a city or state, have been expanding in the U.S. in recent years. Few studies, however, have examined which families do – and which families don’t – apply to them.

A recent study of thousands of Boston students, coauthored by the University of Michigan’s Anna Shapiro and Christina Weiland, finds that non-white and economically disadvantaged families are significantly less likely to apply and enroll in universal pre-k.

Shapiro and Weiland join CPRE Knowledge Hub managing editor Keith Heumiller to discuss their findings and some important implications for policymakers, families and other stakeholders across the country.

Featured Research: Shapiro, Anna, Eleanor Martin, Christina Weiland, and Rebecca Unterman. “If You Offer It, Will They Come? Patterns of Application and Enrollment Behavior in a Universal Prekindergarten Context.” AERA Open, (April 2019).