This brief—written by Rachel Schumacher, Danielle Ewen, Katherine Hart, and Joan Lombardi—is based on the 61-page report of the same name. It studies the emergence of the mixed delivery model, in which prekindergarten is delivered in community-based settings and schools. It describes findings of a state survey CLASP conducted to understand the policy choices, opportunities, and challenges of including community-based child care providers in pre-kindergarten programs.

At the conclusion of our study period for this paper (November 2004), we found at least 29 states that are currently operating at least one pre-kindergarten program using a mixed delivery approach. Those states are: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. Other states, for example Florida, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, are considering or expanding pre-kindergarten policies but were not yet established enough to be included in our study.

In this policy brief, we describe principal approaches to state implementation of the mixed delivery model but do not provide examples of state policies.