PhD Student Sophie Rodosky published in Early Childhood Research Quarterly

PhD student Sophie Rodosky and her co-authors, Dr. Anne Martin, Dr. Deborah Phillips, and Dr. Anna Johnson, just published a new paper entitled “Associations Between Preschool-Age Care Arrangement and Low-Income Children’s IEP Receipt During Elementary School” in Early Childhood Research Quarterly. This study explores selection into preschool-age care arrangements (Head Start, school-based pre-k, and at-home parental care) by disability classification and examines how arrangements differentially predict the likelihood and timing of elementary special education (IEP) receipt. Results suggest that children in Head Start and parental care were more likely than pre-k attenders to have severe impairments like intellectual disabilities and to receive IEPs between kindergarten and fourth grade. No differences in timing emerged. Findings raise questions about barriers to school-based pre-k inclusion for children with severe disabilities and call on future preschool evaluations to consider selection into each potential preschool arrangement by disability.