Low-income preschoolers who attended a comprehensive early childhood program run by Chicago public schools in the 1980s fared better educationally and economically into young adulthood than a comparison group, according to a new report in the August issue of a leading pediatric health journal.
The study followed 1,539 preschool children who attended Chicago's Child-Parent Centers from 1985 to 1986, tracking the youths from preschool through age 24. The group was compared with an additional 550 low-income children who participated in alternative full-day programs available at the time.
