Giving Kids a K+

Connecticut Senator Christopher Dodd, who chairs the Senate Subcommittee on Children and Families, recently introduced legislation to provide federal support for “Kindergarten Plus” programs, which would provide an extra four months of kindergarten classes for at-risk children during the summers before and after the normal kindergarten year.

Research shows that children from the lowest socio-economic backgrounds are often at an academic disadvantage when they start kindergarten because their homes and communities provide less support for their development, and they are less likely to attend high-quality pre-kindergarten programs than their more affluent peers. Kindergarten Plus, or K+, programs would help address that disparity by giving disadvantaged children extra time for math and literacy enrichment, as well as helping them adjust to the school environment before starting kindergarten or first grade.

Kindergarten Plus is the brainchild of the late president American Federation of Teachers president Sandra Feldman, who was a strong supporter of high-quality early education. Sen. Dodd first introduced the Kindergarten Plus Act in 2006, and reintroduced the legislation in the Senate last week. His bill would provide funding, through a competitive grant process, for summer kindergarten enrichment classes in schools with students who are below 185 percent of the poverty line.

States and school districts have already implemented K+ programs, and evidence shows they’re working. Results from a pilot Kindergarten Plus program in New Mexico show that children who participated in the program showed gains in letter naming skills and word sound fluency.

Kindergarten Plus is a smart investment, but it’s not enough alone. The program seeks to level the playing field for low-income children who did not have the opportunity to attend high quality pre-school programs, but four extra months can’t compete with the benefits of a full year (or ideally two) of pre-kindergarten. Instead, K+ must be part of a broader strategy for improving early education, including Head Start and state-funded pre-k programs. Dodd’s legislation advises K+ directors to coordinate with other federal programs, including Head Start and Early Reading First. This kind of coordination between school districts operating K+ programs and other state and federal early education investments could help support PK-3 alignment.

Further, we need to address inequities in kindergarten offerings. Students in Kindergarten Plus would receive a full day of education, but only 65 percent of schools offer full-day kindergarten during the normal school year. Some districts offer full day kindergarten, but only for a fee. That’s counterproductive because research shows that the kids who benefit the most from full-day kindergarten programs are those from lower income families who might not be able to afford $2,000 – $4,000 a year for fee-paying full-day kindergarten programs.

With state budgets under increasing fiscal pressures, it’s tempting to see Kindergarten Plus as a cheaper alternative to expanding pre-k or full-day-kindergarten investments. Kindergarten Plus would certainly be an improvement for the many low-income children who receive no early education before kindergarten. But it’s no substitute for high-quality pre-k or full-day kindergarten. States and federal policymakers need to view Kindergarten Plus as one tool for improving early learning by giving low-income kids an extra boost and helps maintain learning gains by reducing summer learning loss—not as a solution for early childhood education in itself.