My local school district is considering dropping the half-day kindergarten program in favor of going completely to a full-day program. I object to this. This means my 5 year old kid will be going to school for 7 hours. I suspect the primary motivation for this is to help people with daycare, so people don’t have to arrange coverage after kindergarten with a latchkey program or Kindercare type of place.
I have heard, but don’t have cited studies, that any benefits gained by the student of a full-day kindergarten program are largely gone by the time they reach second or third grade, and I think 5 is just too young to be heading into school for a whole day.
Last year they offerend a half-day program but made it so unattractive that they had fewer than 30 students (out of several hundred, we have three elementary schools in our city, pop ~100,000) in the half-day program. They made the half-dayers start an hour later than everyone else, and did not provide bussing for those students. Now they are using that low number, calling it lack of interest, to justify cancelling the program next year.
Does anyone know some good online resources and studies in this area? there is a school board meeting on Tuesday and I want to be prepared.
We’ve been fighting for years to get state funding for full-day kindergarten. The primary motivation is NOT help with daycare, although that is a big added benefit. Most kids can easily handle going for the full day. The teachers keep them active, interactive, and playing and learning. Pretty much the same as if they were in day care the extra 3 hours. They’re not sitting at their desks studying. They’re doing art, playing, being read to, doing learning games, recess, P.E., music, drama, etc. It’s like a high-quality learning day care with professional teachers. The kids love it. The teachers make sure the activities the kids do are suited for their attention level during the afternoons. Would you rather they be sitting at home watching TV? If they go to daycare, they’ll either sit around or do fun activities. At my kids’ kindergarten, the ones who left at half-day hated it and wanted to stay with the rest of the kids. Talk to a full-day kindergarten teacher before you make assumptions. They will tell you that most kids are just fine with full day. Only the very youngest and most immature kids will have any difficulty. If you don’t think your kid is mature enough yet, you can always hold them back a year.
Could you specify more what your objections are? My five-year old gets on the bus at 7:37 in the morning, gets off it at 2:40. He loves it. He has a very small homework assignment Mon-Thurs. He has his favorite classes (art and gym, does not like music because he does not like the songs). In short, he knows the school routine now, and has made the transition from daycare without a problem.
The trend is towards full day kindergarten. Some kids will benefit, some won’t, but it is hard to see how it will harm any?
My objections are if I want him to be able to do other things, like swimming classes, gymnastics, or just play with his mom, he will be wiped out from going full tilt all day, and be less able to enjoy other extracurricular activities. It’s not a maturity thing at all, my son is only 3 right now and has a couple years to go before entering kindergarten. We bucked the system and despite all of the curveballs the shool system threw us, we put my daughter through half-day kindergarten last year, and she adjusted just fine to first grade this year. She reads very well, she is very proficient with math and science and has excellent behavior.
I’m really looking for studies, etc, that support my position. If there are studies supporting the opposing position, I will look over them as well, but following a trend just because it’s a trend seems like a pretty dumb idea.
I think you were right the first time when you suggested it’s popular because it’s “free” (ratepayer-funded) daycare. Any pedagogical benefits are just a bonus.
There are ton of studies that show the benefits if full day kindergarten. This article cites about a dozen studies (warning PDF), and concludes that many of the benefits associated with FDK can be achieved in good half day programs.
This article (warning PDF) has a fairly balanced look at the advantages and disadvantages.
The state of Wisconsin has done some extensive research, with articles on the pros and cons of both full day and half day options.
Here’s an article from ERIC (a journal from the US Dept of Ed) that offers a pretty good overview of older research on the subject.
I just attended an education conference and a paper presented at one of the sessions was called: Measuring the Impact of Full-Day Kindergarten: Exerimental and Quasi-Experimental Evidence, by Chloe Hutchinson Gibbs, University of Chicago. If I’m remembering correctly, she found that the full-dayers did better at some schools, but not others. I don’t remember if there were specific characteristics that made a school better or worse for FDK. You could probably look her up on the uni website and email her for details or a copy of the study.
Is kindergarten mandatory in your state? According to this (from 2000 so it may be hopelessly out of date) kindergarten attendance is mandatory in only 15 states. If you feel strongly enough about it, and if it is an option for you, you could keep him out of altogether. That is, if you feel confident enough that you could prepare him for first grade on time without it, or you could do some sort of homeschooling for kindergarten if you are able.
Well, I really do want my boy to get the social stimulation and interaction of being in school. We’re going to put him in pre-school, so not enrolling him in Kindegarten would leave him with a huge hole where school used to be.
I think you will find that you can cherry pick your data either way, but that the benefit to the school and the community of FDK outweighs the fact that a carefully designed HDK can be just as good.
I think it is unfair to approach it as just following a trend because it is a trend, since there are benefits to FDK adn no quamtifiable drawbacks. That is, if you want HDK you need to propose a plan which will address the advantages to other people of FDK. It seems unlikely that the school will adopt a proposal which is more expensive and less convenient so that a couple of kids can be at peak performance for swim lessons.
Hey, I did preschool at four, for a whole day…AND I was special needs. But I DO think a good idea is offering both. Not all kids are one size fits all. Some kids may benifit from just 1.2 day kindy.
Well, the thing is that we already have a very good half day program. The schools in my community are some of the top in the state, and we have stellar teachers in our elementary program. I don’t see the point in scrapping an excellent system when a good portion of the community still wants it and pays extra tax every year (we’re one of the few communities allowed to pass additional millage in support of our schools) to support the school.