Preschool · beta
Chicago preschool, explained by parents
Chicago offers free, full-day preschool for 4-year-olds, plus 3-year-old, Head Start, and blended classrooms across the city. The official rules live on cps.edu. What's missing is the everyday stuff - nap time, what to pack, when pick-up really ends, whether the site runs through summer. That's the part families fill in here.
Initial Application Period
April 7 – April 28, 2026
The Initial Application Period is a set window when families are encouraged to apply for Chicago Early Learning programs for the upcoming school year. Applying during this window improves your child's chances of getting a seat at the programs you prefer.
It is not first-come, first-served. Applications are prioritized by family need, so you can apply on any day inside the window and be considered equally for the first round of placements.
Families who apply during the window get their placement results in mid-May. After it closes you can still apply year-round, but seats get harder to find as the year goes on.
Most asked about
Full-day seats for 3-year-olds are the hardest to find
Most 3-year-old classrooms in Chicago run a half day. A smaller set of sites run a full day for 3s, and those fill fastest - they are the seats working families ask about most.
Homeroom's CPS import only tells us whether a school runs a pre-K program at all, not whether its 3-year-old classroom is half or full day. Until that data exists we check with each site, and families who already have a 3-year-old enrolled can tell us.
Tell us about a full-day 3-year-old program- Who it's for
- Children who turn 3 or 4 by September 1
- When to apply
- Initial Application Period April 7 – April 28, 2026, then year-round
- Where seats are
- CPS elementary schools and community centers
- Family hotline
- 312-229-1690
Preschool is not GoCPS
GoCPS is for kindergarten through 12th grade and runs in one fall window. Preschool uses a separate Chicago Early Learning application that is open all year. If you're applying for both a preschool seat now and kindergarten next fall, you'll do two different things. See the kindergarten timeline.
The kinds of preschool seats
Preschool for All (4-year-olds)
Age 4 by Sept 1 · Full school day · Free
Chicago's commitment is a free, full-day preschool seat for every 4-year-old. Seats sit in CPS elementary schools and in community-based organizations across the city.
Preschool for All (3-year-olds)
Age 3 by Sept 1 · Mostly half day - a few sites run full day · Free at most sites
Three-year-old seats are more limited than four-year-old seats, and most of them are half day. The handful of sites that run a full day for 3s are the most popular option in the city and fill fastest, so list several locations and apply inside the Initial Application Period.
Head Start & Early Head Start
Birth to 5 · Full day and full year at many sites · Free, income-eligible
Federally funded programs with family support services built in - health screenings, home visiting, and parent programming. Mostly run through community organizations.
Official Chicago Early Learning pages
Preschool rules change year to year. Confirm anything you're about to rely on at the source.