The Case for Full-Day Kindergarten

I find that when I feel that a particular viewpoint is "obvious" it is helpful to step back and consider opposing viewpoints. This helps mitigate confirmation bias and groupthink, and can clarify why I adopt my particular opinion.

If you'll permit me to play Devil's Advocate on a Sunday, perhaps we would benefit from considering the case in favor of full-day kindergarten. First, a disclaimer: I am not actually in favor of changing to FDK, so I might be misrepresenting the case or leaving out significant aspects of the case altogether. But I'll do my best to describe what I see as the main reasons for FDK, and then we can talk about whether those reasons are stronger than the reasons against FDK, which have been covered in other posts.

The main reasons for FDK, as I see them, are: 1) to prevent regression in children who attended full-day pre-K, 2) to identify and support students who would benefit from earlier Academic Intervention Services, 3) to provide a slower pace to existing Kindergarten curriculum, 4) to expand the Kindergarten curriculum to allow outdoor play and/or art and music activities, and 5) to ease the burden on working parents who would otherwise require after-school day care (including mid-day transportation) for their children. Of less importance, but nonetheless real, is the fact that 6) FDK provides more jobs for elementary teachers.

Unfortunately, I lack at least some relevant data for all but two of those reasons. The district report on the transition indicates that 19 families would enroll a child in public Kindergarten instead of full-day private Kindergarten, from which I conclude that reason 5 applies to about 19 families. The district report also indicates that the expected layoff of 3 teachers would be avoided by a move to FDK. Assuming these 3 teachers aren't the parents of any of the 19 children, that's at least 22 families in the district with a direct benefit from FDK.

Although I don't know how many students are affected by the other four reasons, I feel we can have a productive look at those reasons. Just as the transition from no school at all to FDK would be more jolting than a transition into HDK (as described in an earlier post), the transition from full-day pre-K, to HDK, back to full-day 1st grade would be more painful. In fact, FDK worsens the transition only for children with no pre-K experience. Children who attended half-day pre-K are not experiencing a sharp transition. I don't know how many children have no pre-K experience, but would not be surprised if it were less than half of Kindergartners in the district.

It is hard to estimate how many children, if any, would be identified for AIS only in FDK (ie, they would be missed in HDK). However, it is often the case that the earlier the intervention, the more positive the outcome. Identifying even one student a year earlier would have a big impact for that student. And it seems plausible that in a half-day program a teacher may have less time to interact with and evaluate each student individually. It also seems likely that there is a correlation between reasons 1, 2, and 5. That is, children who need early intervention are more likely to have parents that both work (or only one parent), and therefore more likely to have attended full-day pre-K (or at least half-day). It is easy for well-to-do families with a stay-at-home parent to criticize FDK for the slight disadvantages it poses for them without recognize the rather large benefits it provides for less fortunate families.

Finally, reasons 3 and 4 really boil down to the same thing. If a major criticism of FDK is that it takes time away from the home/family setting, perhaps it is a good thing to make Kindergarten more like home--slower paced, more arts, crafts, and music instead of purely focused on math and reading, etc.

Together, these reasons cover a wide range of families in the district. Reasonable people might disagree about whether these reasons are more important than the reasons to oppose FDK, but hopefully this posts helps you see both sides of the discussion more clearly.

If I've left something out, or if you'd like to respond to these reasons, please comment or come to a board meeting.