Bridging the Gap: The Impact of Chicago’s Universal Pre-K Expansion on Short Term Academic Outcomes

This paper investigates the impact of Chicago’s Universal Pre-Kindergarten (UPK) expansion in 2019 on early childhood academic performance. The analysis uses publicly available school-level data from the Illinois State Board of Education between the years 2015 through 2023 excluding data from 2020 due to COVID. Using a differences in differences (DiD) approach, I compare standardized test scores in English Language Arts (ELA) and Math between public schools in Chicago and Springfield. Across both baseline and fixed effects regressions, the results suggest no statistically significant effect of the UPK expansion on early childhood academic performance. While the results suggest that the UPK expansion did not yield immediate gains in standardized test scores, it does not imply that the UPK expansion was ineffective. These null results add to a growing body of literature that suggests that early childhood education programs like UPK often influence non-cognitive skills which can’t be fully captured in standardized tests. Instead, the benefits of UPK may appear gradually over time as a child progresses through the education system. UPK’s lack of a measurable impact on students standardized test scores should not be misinterpreted as a policy failure because programs like UPK still can remain essential for expanding access, narrowing socioeconomic gaps, and giving all children the opportunity and foundation to thrive in their educational journey.