Rethinking Full-Day Kindergarten

To the Editor:

Thankfully the Board of Education did not put full-day kindergarten in its budget. I say thankfully for two reasons.

First, in these bad economic times we are in no position to institute a new program that will be a permanent, year-after-year increase to our school budget. Many in Newtown are struggling to make ends meet. We can’t fill the shelves in our food pantries fast enough. On top of that, gas prices, food prices, and taxes are all going up.

Second, whether we can afford it or not, it’s the wrong thing for our children. Although educational groups (who have vested interests in growing the size and scope of public educational programs) have painted a rosy picture of the benefits of full-day kindergarten, this rosy picture has been painted by research that is “limited in its applicability to mainstream middle-class students and plagued by methodological shortcomings.”(1)

Study after study finds no lasting benefits. Examples: The National Center for Education Statistics’ Early Childhood Longitudinal Study found no lasting reading, math, or science achievement differences between children who attend half-day and full-day kindergarten — any initial benefits completely disappear by third grade.(1) Another study found, “In sum, there is little evidence that the positive impact of attending a full-day kindergarten program persists beyond first grade.”(2) Yet another study found, “After controlling for nonacademic readiness at kindergarten, children who had attended a full-day program at kindergarten showed poorer mathematics performance in fifth grade than did children who had attended a part-day kindergarten program.”(3)

Additionally, a full-day of academics for kindergarten age children can be detrimental. David Elkind, expert in the child development field, explains that giving a child too much academic instruction too early (generally before age 6 or 7) can “permanently damage a child’s self-esteem, reduce a child’s natural eagerness to learn, and block a child’s natural gifts and talents.”(1) A study concludes in part, “Children who participated in a full-day kindergarten program demonstrated poorer dispositions toward learning, lower self-control, and poorer interpersonal skills than children in part-day programs.”(3) 

From my experience, Newtown’s kindergarten teachers do a wonderful job of taking children from all levels and backgrounds and preparing them for the academics and rigors of first grade — all in a half-day setting with the proper level of play-oriented learning. Parents who prefer full-day kindergarten have the availability of private school options in town. 

If and when the town decides it would like to increase spending in the school budget, let’s look at our overall educational problems and goals to determine where those tax dollars are best spent. For any lasting benefits to our students, it’s not in full-day kindergarten.

Footnotes:

(1) Assessing Proposals for Preschool and Kindergarten: Essential Information for Parents, Taxpayers and Policymakers, Reason Foundation, May 2006

(2) Is Full Better than Half? Examining the Longitudinal Effects of Full-day Kindergarten, Rand Corporation, October 2005

(3) School Readiness, Full-Day Kindergarten, and Student Achievement, An Empirical Investigation, Rand Corporation, 2006

Cathy Reiss

42 Obtuse Road, Newtown                                              March 2, 2011