A Bad Move: Districts Cutting or Stalling Out on Full-Day Kindergarten

<div>The board for Fairfax County Schools, the largest school district in Northern Virginia, will be releasing its budget proposal later this week. Full-day kindergarten is on the list of potential cuts, <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/30/AR2009123002487.html">according to the Washington Post</a>.</div>  <div>&nbsp;</div>  <div>In Hartford, Conn., a move to offer full-day kindergarten in the Rocky Hill school district has been stalled by cost concerns, <a href="http://www.courant.com/community/rocky-hill/hc-rocky-hill-kindergarten-1212.artdec11,0,7449352.story">according to the Hartford Courant</a>.</div>  <div>&nbsp;</div>  <div>And in Ohio, where full-day kindergarten <a href="../../../../../../blogposts/2009/ohio_slashes_early_childhood_budget_and_eliminates_full_day_pre_k-18502">was mandated</a> in the state’s 2010 budget, <a href="http://www.cleveland.com/opinion/index.ssf/2009/12/full-day_kindergarten_is_a_gre.html">The Plain Dealer reports</a> that school districts are desperate for waivers because the state has not provided them with enough funds to roll out their full-day programs this year.</div>  <div>&nbsp;</div>  <div>We hope these are simply isolated reports and that most districts will continue to move toward providing full-day kindergarten. A <a href="http://www.fcd-us.org/resources/resources_show.htm?doc_id=464004">report from the Education Commission of the States</a> showed that, in 2005, only nine states guaranteed universal full-day kindergarten. Over the past few years, more districts around the country have been trying to roll out full-day programs and Ohio’s mandate was initially seen as a good sign.</div>  <div>&nbsp;</div>  <div>Cutting back on full-day kindergarten – especially when it is already in place -- represents a big step backward. And it’s not just because the typical half-day of kindergarten (9 a.m. to 12 p.m.) is hard on parents who work. Nor is it simply because full-day programs provide continuity for children, helping them to better adapt to the school routine by the time they are in first grade.</div>  <div>&nbsp;</div>  <div>When kindergarten teachers command classrooms during the same hours as their other elementary school colleagues, they are seen as integral to the primary grades and are envisioned as fellow professionals in a collegial collaborative environment between kindergarten, first, second and third grade teachers. This is a critical piece of the delivery system for early education, providing children with a seamless experience from pre-K through third grade. Teachers will experience greater disconnection in their curricula and more missed opportunities for integration with their colleagues when their teaching experiences are fractured and out of alignment with the rest of the primary grades. Children’s chances of receiving consistently high quality educational opportunities, in which teachers work together across grades and build on what each other has taught, will likely suffer as a result. (Our recent <a href="/downloads/Education%20Reform%20Starts%20Early_0.pdf">policy paper on New Jersey</a> provides a window onto how this kind of collaboration can make a huge difference in children's achievement.)</div>  <div>&nbsp;</div>  <div>What’s more, full-day kindergarten can allow for more enriched playtime. This sounds like it runs counter to the worries about overly academic kindergartens. But in fact, full-day kindergarten can help to <a href="../../../../../../publications/articles/2009/kindergarten_need_not_be_a_pressure_cooker_12826">counteract those pressure-cooker scenarios</a>. Today’s kindergartens should be providing children with rich and developmentally appropriate introductions to reading, mathematics, science, art, music and other content areas.&nbsp;But teachers of half-day kindergarten can find themselves hard-pressed to make it all fit into a three-hour school day. This has led many parents and child development experts to worry that imaginative play and child-directed activities will fall by the wayside as teachers focus on introducing math concepts or writing letters. Fortunately, a full day of kindergarten provides more time for those important play opportunities – and teachers can have the flexibility to be more creative with how they can enrich children’s play experiences. Imagine a classroom with a make-believe hospital in the corner. With those hours in the afternoon, teachers can let children get deeply involved in their play while also <a href="http://earlyed.newamerica.net/blogposts/2009/two_antidotes_to_kindergarten_cram-18568">introducing them to new words and roles at the same time</a>. (“Oh, are you the doctor? Do you want to take an x-ray? Let’s pretend that this is an x-ray machine!”) To truly allow for kindergarten playtime to become learning time – to enable it to evolve into the engrossing, problem-solving and language-rich experience it can be – children and teachers need the time and flexibility that comes with a full school day.</div>  <div>&nbsp;</div>  <div>For all these reasons, we cannot let full-day kindergarten become a casualty of the recession. If we are serious about improving our education system, if we want to make sure that all kindergartners are given the teacher time, the resources and the play-based learning they need to excel in school, we have to hope that full-day kindergarten will continue to roll out in districts across the country.&nbsp;</div>