Four schools that converted half-day pre-k to full-day showed attendance about 4 percentage points higher than propensity-weighted comparison schools after expansion¶
Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causalr2·q2
Currency · newest study 2021 · checked against its sources 2026-10-20 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person
Subclaims¶
Reading the evidence codes
q is the design tier, i the impact, n the sample, and the kind with its r
the rigour judged within that kind: what each code means.
This claim: no standardized effect is recorded in observations/ for it yet, so no benchmark reading is possible.
q2 i? In the North Lawndale Cluster Initiative study, pre-k attendance at the four converting schools was about 4 percentage points higher than at propensity-weighted comparison schools in 2015-16 and 2016-17, about seven additional days of attendance; the difference was statistically significant in 2015-16, and in 2016-17 significant in some model specifications but only marginally significant in others. → Ehrlich 2021
Evidence¶
Ehrlich 2021¶
Ehrlich, S.B., Allensworth, E.M., & Tansey, J. (2021). Meeting families' needs: Attendance rates in full-day vs. half-day pre-k. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Consortium on School Research. https://consortium.uchicago.edu/publications/meeting-families-needs
q2 · i? · causal · r2
Quasi-experimental comparison of four NLCI schools with comparison schools weighted by their propensity scores (the summary calls it a matching strategy; the methods section describes propensity weighting), using hierarchical linear models with students nested within schools and student demographic controls. Baseline equivalence on pre-k attendance was established in 2012-13.
"Pre-k attendance rates in the NLCI schools improved in the 2015-16 school year and were about 4 percentage points higher than at comparison schools through the 2016-17 school year. The differ -ences were statistically significant despite the small number of schools"
Discussion¶
Related Claims¶
- The full-day vs. half-day attendance gap was largest for Black students, at about 4-5 percentage points — related
- District-wide pre-k attendance rates increased modestly (1.5 percentage points) as full-day enrollment expanded, with Black students gaining 3 percentage points — related
- Students in full-day pre-k programs had significantly higher attendance rates than students in half-day programs across all study years — related
- Elementary attendance and school climate improved over time at NLCI schools but not significantly more than at comparison schools — related
- Full-day pre-k funding significantly raised pre-k attendance at NLCI elementary schools relative to matched comparison schools — possibly the same claim (merge candidate)
- In the first year of NLCI expansion, the attendance advantage over similar schools (3.8 percentage points) was not statistically significant — related
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
claim |
id |
nlci-fullday-conversion-attendance-gains |
title |
Four schools that converted half-day pre-k to full-day showed attendance about 4 percentage points higher than propensity-weighted comparison schools after expansion |
description |
Four schools that converted half-day pre-k to full-day showed attendance about 4 percentage points higher than propensity-weighted comparison schools after expansion |
status |
review |
evidence_strength |
moderate |
newest_evidence |
2021 |
source_checked |
2026-10-20 |
generated |
by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-10-08 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
1 — ehrlich-2021 |
Frontmatter is the page's machine-readable record — see the Schema & Guide.