Enrollment and attendance in pre-K — especially among Black and Latino preschoolers — improves when programs operate for a full school day instead of a few hours in the morning or afternoon, a new study shows.

Enrollment more than quadrupled among Black children and tripled among Latino students when the Chicago Public Schools expanded full-day pre-K, according to researchers from the Consortium for School Research at the University of Chicago. The findings also focused on an expansion effort in the city’s North Lawndale community.

For all racial groups, attendance was higher among children in full-day pre-K, compared with part-day. For Black children, the difference was the largest — 4 to 5 percentage points. Attendance rates also improved among English learners and students from low-income homes.

The results, researchers said, suggest classes operating on a normal school schedule alleviate many of the logistical challenges that might lead low-income and working parents to turn down a free part-day program — like the need to secure child care for the rest of the day, transportation costs and the inability to leave work.

Past research points to more academic benefits for children in full-day programs, compared with part-day. But for policymakers making decisions about how to spend limited funds, “there are trade-offs,” said Elaine Allensworth, a co-author of the report and director of the consortium.

“Full-day preschool requires more resources — personnel and space,” she said, and with full- instead of part-day programs, the “same funding would result in fewer spots available for students to have any preschool.”

Pre-K programs nationally saw a decline in participation at the start of the 2020-21 school year — a drop from 61 percent of 3- and 4-year-olds before the pandemic to less than half, While there was some rebound last spring, initial counts from fall of 2021 show enrollment has not reached pre-pandemic levels, which experts say could impact future funding for programs. The lack of a vaccine for 5- to 11-year-olds is also one-factor influencing parents’ decisions about pre-K this year. Earlier data from the National Institute for Early Education Research’s ongoing survey of parents during the pandemic showed concerns about COVID-19 transmission was the major reason why they decided not to enroll their children.

Read the full article about pre-k boosts enrollment by Linda Jacobson at The 74.