Kindergarten registration data shows preschool access gaps for lower-income families, collaboration reports

The Collaboration for Early Childhood presented preliminary kindergarten registration data Feb. 26, showing disparities in preschool participation among incoming kindergartners.

The group said roughly one-third of children entering District 97 kindergarten last year attended preschool programs classified in the collaboration’s data as "high-quality" (benchmarked to NAEYC or state quality ratings). A top band of parents — 7.2% — reported no preschool history prior to kindergarten. The collaboration reported that children eligible for free and reduced-price lunch both over-indexed in the high-quality category and, more prominently, in the group with no reported…