<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><xml><records><record><source-app name="HighWire" version="7.x">Drupal-HighWire</source-app><ref-type name="Journal Article">17</ref-type><contributors><authors><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Morrissey, Taryn W.</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Allard, Scott W.</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Pelletier, Elizabeth</style></author></authors><secondary-authors></secondary-authors></contributors><titles><title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Access to Early Care and Education in Rural Communities: Implications for Children’s School Readiness</style></title><secondary-title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences</style></secondary-title></titles><dates><year><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">2022</style></year><pub-dates><date><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">2022-05-01 00:00:00</style></date></pub-dates></dates><pages><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">100-123</style></pages><doi><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">10.7758/RSF.2022.8.3.04</style></doi><volume><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">8</style></volume><issue><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">3</style></issue><abstract><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">This study links county-level early care and education (ECE) program, economic, and demographic data to child-level data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort of 2010–2011 to examine geographic variation in ECE program participation and provision. We find that public ECE programs, particularly Head Start, occupy a larger role in nonmetropolitan communities than in metropolitan areas. By contrast, children in rural counties are less likely to attend private center-based ECE, and nonprofit childcare program expenditures in rural areas lag. We also find rural-metropolitan differences in school readiness diminish when geographic characteristics are controlled. Results suggest that county-level context and state-level policy features shape children’s early experiences, and that public ECE investments are key in narrowing disparities in ECE attendance and in children’s outcomes.</style></abstract></record></records></xml>