As part of a special section dedicated to education this weekend, the Times looked at the U of C's Lab School, describing it as "as good as prekindergarten gets." Accordingly, UCLS is serving as a benchmark for early childhood education proponents around the country as they push for broader public funding of pre-elementary schooling. Here in Chicago, the Child-Parent Center program has been offering such services to lower income families for nearly 40 years, and a long-term study by University of Wisconsin researchers has shown just how effective this preparation for later learning can be.