Do enrollment rates in preschool differ by race/ethnicity?
During the mid-1970s, preschool enrollment rates among white and black 3- to 4-year-olds were similar. However, due mostly to increases in preschool enrollment of white 3- to 4-year-olds in the 1980s, average enrollment rates for white preschoolers were nearly 8 percentage points higher than those of blacks and 22 percentage points higher than those of Hispanics by 1993. It should be noted, however, that although white 3- to 4-year-olds were more likely than blacks and Hispanics to be enrolled in preschool, blacks and Hispanics were more likely than whites to be enrolled in kindergarten at that age. As a result, a similar percentage of blacks and whites were enrolled in some type of school program at age 3-4 in 1993. Hispanic school enrollment rates were still substantially lower that year (table 2-1).
