Districts expanding pre-k should prioritize placing full-day pre-k classrooms close to where historically underserved students live¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 1 claim (1 for) · 1 study (1 associational), q3 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 1 claim rests on one study

Description¶

The report's authors recommend that when district leaders expand pre-k and decide where to locate classrooms, they "have an opportunity to prioritize policies and funding that provide more full-day pre-k classrooms close to where historically underserved students live." This follows from the finding that intentional placement of full-day, school-based pre-k classrooms in neighborhoods that typically lack them made a difference for student outcomes.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Districts must have authority over the number and geographic allocation of full-day, school-based pre-k classrooms, as Chicago did when it increased classrooms and reallocated them citywide beginning in 2013.

Constraints¶

• The Chicago study does not compare outcomes between students who attended pre-k and those who did not, so the recommendation rests on policy-variation relationships rather than an attendance contrast.

Target Learners¶

• three- and four-year-old children entering pre-k, particularly high-priority groups such as Black students and students in the lowest-income group

Target Learning Goals¶

• kindergarten entry skills
• second-grade math and reading achievement
• academic grades

Claims¶

• The number of pre-k classrooms near a student's home was positively related to enrollment, more strongly for full-day classrooms [+W]

Related Strategies¶

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Connors, M., Ehrlich, S., Stein, A., Francis, J., Easton, J., & Kabourek, S. (2021). A path to equity: From expanded pre-k access to success in elementary school. Chicago, IL: NORC at the University of Chicago. https://consortium.uchicago.edu/publications/a-path-to-equity