The challenge
Chicago Public Schools wanted to improve attendance and achievement in some of the city's poorest neighbourhoods.
The case
Chicago Public Schools opened its first four Child-Parent Centers in 1967 with federal Title I funding, starting in one of the poorest districts in the city. It is one of the oldest federally funded preschool programs. They offer half-day preschool at ages 3 and 4, kindergarten and extra support in linked elementary schools up to age 9, plus family and health services. The Chicago Longitudinal Study followed 1,539 low-income, mostly Black children born in 1980, comparing 989 who attended the centers with similar children in other early childhood programs. By age 20, children who had attended the preschool for one or two years had a higher rate of high school completion, 49.7% against 38.5%, and lower rates of juvenile arrest, 16.9% against 25.1%, and of violent arrests, 9.0% against 15.3%.
Why it worked
The centers showed that a large public school system, not just a small demonstration project, can deliver preschool with lasting effects. Children were not randomly assigned, so the results rest on careful matching rather than a randomised trial.
Sources
- Human Capital Research Collaborative, University of Minnesota. Background and history of the Child-Parent Center program.
- Reynolds, A. J., Temple, J. A., Robertson, D. L., & Mann, E. A. (2001). Long-term effects of an early childhood intervention on educational achievement and juvenile arrest: A 15-year follow-up of low-income children in public schools. JAMA, 285(18), 2339–2346.
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