The University of Kentucky will lead a new statewide initiative designed to test whether financial incentives can improve kindergarten readiness outcomes across the state. According to UK News, the university is establishing the Kentucky Kindergarten Readiness Performance-Based Child Care Incentive Pilot Program under House Bill 6, which passed the Kentucky General Assembly during the 2026 Regular Session.

The three-year pilot will operate from January 2027 through July 2029 and will evaluate whether performance-based financial incentives for eligible parents and childcare providers can help more children enter kindergarten prepared to succeed. Collin Shepley, an associate professor in the UK College of Education who specializes in early childhood education and early intervention systems, will lead the program.

As the project begins, Shepley will assemble a workgroup of researchers and other stakeholders to develop reliable methods for measuring whether the incentives increase kindergarten readiness. The process presents significant complexity, Shepley noted, given the many different early care pathways available to Kentucky families—including licensed childcare centers, Head Start, state-funded preschool, home-based care and combinations thereof.

"Our job at UK is to make sure that we design the study in such a way that it considers all the nuances, braiding of funding streams and variations across settings that exist in early care and education," Shepley said in a statement.

The initiative addresses a critical challenge in Kentucky's early childhood system: the financial strain on both childcare providers and families. Shepley cited studies showing that many childcare centers across the state fail to break even financially unless they maintain exceptionally high enrollment numbers. The pilot will explore whether performance-based funding could provide support while improving outcomes for children.

UK College of Education Dean Nick Pace said the project reflects the college's commitment to connecting research with real-world challenges. "Kindergarten success is a key part of a child's educational journey," Pace said. "We are eager to collaborate to provide Kentucky communities, early childhood education providers and policy makers with information on how we might best support children's readiness."

Senate Bill 191 sponsor Sen. Danny Carroll emphasized that the pilot represents an evidence-based approach to early childhood education policy. "Rather than relying on assumptions, we can measure results, learn from the experience and use that information to guide future decisions," Carroll said.

The pilot will be funded through the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement and is expected to produce data that could inform statewide implementation of performance-based incentive models for early care and education providers.