A three-part exploration of issues in early childhood education policy: (1) a description of the relationship between proximity to expanding prekindergarten programs and Head Start teachers' education levels, using data from Head Start programs linked with state and local data on prekindergarten enrollment; (2) an examination of the correlation between large changes in teachers' educational levels in Head Start programs and trade-offs with respect to other program goals; and (3) an analysis of the process by which families make child care decisions and the causal impact of this care, using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (Birth Cohort) and a multinomial propensity score matching technique