Significant Diversity – and Inequality – in State Kindergarten Policy

Children’s kindergarten experiences vary greatly depending on where they live. Some public school kindergartners, for example, attend school for six hours each day. Others attend for only two hours. A full day of state-funded kindergarten, as is the case for grades 1-12, is not available everywhere.

Kindergarten policies across the states vary in other ways too. The recent report, “Inequities at the Starting Line: State Kindergarten Policies,” from the Education Commission of the States found significant diversity in state kindergarten policies in several areas including access to full-day kindergarten, entry assessments and class size. Among the report’s findings:

• 34 states require districts to offer at least a half-day of kindergarten.
• 35 states do not require that children attend kindergarten at all.
• The length of the kindergarten day ranges from two hours to seven hours.
• 25 states and DC require that kindergarten children are observed or tested to determine their readiness for school (typically via a kindergarten entry assessment).
• Teacher-student ratios range from 1:15 to 1:30.

Emily Workman, author of the ECS report, also reviewed how states fund full-day kindergarten, requirements for teacher qualifications, and kindergarten standards. There are three ways states fund a full day of kindergarten:

• At a higher level than their half-day programs;
• At the same level as the half-day programs but equal to or greater than what is provided for 1^st grade; or
• At the same level as the half-day program but less than what is provided for 1^st grade.

In states that do not provide funding for full-day kindergarten at a level at least equal to what is provided for first grade, school districts have little incentive to offer high-quality full-time kindergarten programs because they would likely have to kick in their own additional funding. Some states do allow districts to charge parents if they opt to send their children to full-day kindergarten. But paying for those hours is not financially feasible for all families.

Workman also found that while some states offer a PreK-3^rd teaching license, many school principals prefer teachers to hold broader licenses such as K-6. Elementary (K-5 or K-6) teacher preparation programs are more likely to focus on instructional strategies appropriate for older students and less likely to prepare teachers to teach in the ways younger children learn best.

Finally, Workman looked at state standards. She found that the majority of states have early learning standards, but wrote that the degree to which they are aligned with the Common Core is far less clear. The majority of states have adopted the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts and Mathematics. These standards include kindergarten, but do not hold different expectations for students based on the length of the day they spend in kindergarten or other variations in their kindergarten experience. So the student who attends kindergarten for three hours each day is expected to meet the same rigorous standards as the student who attends a six-hour kindergarten program. Clearly, it will be difficult for half-day kindergarten teachers to help their students meet the new and higher expectations while still providing opportunities for students to develop their social-emotional skills, motor skills and executive skills and time for exploration, play and child-directed learning.