This research brief provides a descriptive portrait of the curricular approaches used in preschool classrooms across Chicago's West and North sides. Several important findings emerge, which we will examine further in future reports. One clear result is that the traditional emphasis in the early childhood field on child-initiated learning remains common in the West and North sides of Chicago, with over three-quarters of directors reporting this was "very much" the case in their programs. Direct instruction showed greater variation across settings, with about one-third each reporting little, some and very much of an emphasis on this approach. This result suggests that the field's move toward integrating child-initiated and teacher-directed instruction may not have reached all centers in the Chicago area. (author abstract)