Early Childhood Topics

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Assessing Early Care and Education in Chicago

The Chicago Program Evaluation Project (C-PEP) described the largest early care and education programs operated by the Chicago Public Schools and Chicago Department of Children and Youth Services. It was the largest study conducted to date of a local mixed-delivery early care and education system, including half-day Head Start, half-day state prekindergarten, and full-day programs funded by multiple sources. The programs included in the C-PEP study were located in public schools and community-based child care centers and served low-income or educationally at-risk children across Chicago.

Mathematica's study addressed the following research questions:

• What were the characteristics and developmental status of 4-year-olds entering Chicago's preschool programs?
• What were the characteristics of the preschool programs they enter, including classroom instructional quality, teacher education and experience, and program characteristics?
• What developmental gains did children make during the preschool year?

The early childhood education programs included in the C-PEP study served a diverse population with a high concentration of at-risk children:

• Language barriers: Roughly half the children spoke Spanish or another non-English language at home.
• Family demographics: Children entered Chicago preschool programs with high levels of family demographic risk factors, including poverty, single parenthood, and low parental education. Forty percent were considered high-risk (three or more factors). Half-day Head Start programs had the largest proportion of high-risk children (62 percent); Preschool for All programs had the lowest (28 percent). The average annual family income of all children in C-PEP half-day Head Start and full-day programs was $10,500 and $12,100, respectively, and the average annual family income of all children in C-PEP Preschool for All programs was $25,600.
• Behavioral risk: 16 percent of children scored in the high-risk ranges across five key behavioral and emotional areas. This was consistent with national findings.
• Where they start: As they enter preschool in the fall, a substantial proportion of C-PEP children were nearly at national norms in early literacy, but significantly below national averages in vocabulary and early mathematics achievement.

Children made significant gains, but needs remained:

• Cognitive progress overall: Children across the programs made significant progress in a relatively short amount of time in early mathematics, vocabulary development, and pre-literacy (the average time period from fall to spring assessment was 5.4 months).
• Social-emotional progress: Children’s attention/persistence and social behavior improved during the preschool year, with the greatest gains in areas of social interaction and cooperation. Behavior problem-related incidents were below expected levels for this age. These skills—being able to settle into an activity or concentrate, cooperate and show empathy towards other children—are critical for success in elementary school and beyond.
• Helping those who need it most: Kids at highest risk—English language learners and those with three or more risk factors—made substantial progress in terms of vocabulary development, early literacy achievement, and early mathematics achievement. Despite these gains, English vocabulary and early mathematics scores of C-PEP children in the spring remained below the national norms for all children. Math gains were smaller than those in language development.
• Narrowing the achievement gap: During the preschool year, C-PEP children made progress relative to 4-year-old children nationally.

Publications

“The Chicago Program Evaluation Project: A Picture of Early Childhood Programs, Teachers, and Preschool-Age Children in Chicago" (December 2008)