FullDay versus HalfDay Kindergarten: In Which Program Do Children Learn More

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Full-Day versus Half-Day Kindergarten In Which
Program Do Children Learn More?

• Valerie E. Lee, David T. Burkam, Douglas D.
  Ready, Joann Honigman, Samuel J. Meisels
• (from the American Journal of Education, February
  2006)

Lauren Berkett, Caitlin FitzGerald, Avital Shuster
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Definition of Terms

• Kindergarten a place to develop childrens
  mental, social, and emotional faculties through
  self-directed, active exploration, play, and
  interaction
• Early intervention introductory activities that
  focus on both play and academics
• Developmentally Appropriate young children
  learn through play, educating the whole child
  is the primary concern
• Formal Kindergarten emphasis on formal reading
  and math instruction, preparing kids for first
  grade is the main goal

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Purpose

• Do young children who attend public schools that
  offer full-day kindergarten programs learn more
  over the school year, in terms of achievement in
  the domains of literacy and mathematics, than
  their counterparts who attend schools with
  half-day programs?
• Are the learning benefits associated with
  enrollment in public schools offering full-day or
  half-day kindergarten different for schools of
  varying academic composition or in schools with
  different social compositions?

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Methodology Data Sample

• Longitudinal Study
• Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten
  Cohort 1998-1999 (Randomized case study by US
  Dept. of Education)
• Students remained in the same public school over
  the course of kindergarten and had complete
  cognitive testing scores
• ECLS-K weighted data to adjust for any
  misrepresentation

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Methodology - Measures

• Focus on cognitive, intellectual development, not
  social or behavioral
• Untimed tests in literacy and math upon entering
  and leaving kindergarten
• Measured progress from fall to spring testing
• Social Background gender, race/ethnicity, SES,
  language spoken at home, poverty status, academic
  background
• School Setting half-day vs. full-day,
  urbanicity, geographical region, kindergarten
  size, grades served
• School composition minority enrollment, average
  SES, ability of entering kindergarteners

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Methodology - Analysis

• Hierarchical Linear Model (HLM) Complex
  statistical analysis method that adjusts scores
  to compensate for excess variables
• Compare half-day with full-day schools average
  achievement on cognitive tests, after scores have
  been adjusted
• Evaluate interaction between achievement,
  half-day or full-day programs, and school setting
  and composition

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Findings Characteristics of Full-Day
Kindergartens

• Socioeconomically disadvantaged students
• More common in urban areas and small towns Less
  common in medium-sized surburbs and the Western
  US
• More common in schools offering many grades (i.e.
  K-12)
• These students begin kindergarten at a
  disadvantage to half-day, but the gap closes by
  the end of the year

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Findings Within Schools

• High test scores upon entering kindergarten are
  associated with high scores at the end of the
  year
• Girls learned slightly more than boys in literacy
• Asian students learned slightly more than whites
  in literacy
• African Americans learned less than whites in
  both literacy and math
• Age is related to learning in math, but not
  literacy
• Repeat kindergarteners learned less
• Higher SES is somewhat associated with more
  learning

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Findings Between Schools

• Full-day kindergarten students learn more in both
  literacy and math (once scores are adjusted for
  social and academic backgrounds and school
  environment)
• Students with higher test scores initially learn
  more
• Schools enrolling less affluent children make
  more progress in math
• Urbanicity and school type (elementary, K-12,
  etc.) are unrelated

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Findings Additional Factors

• Effectiveness of full-day kindergarten over
  half-day depends on
• Region In the Western US, full-day programs are
  less common and provide less of an advantage
• Schools racial composition Larger or smaller
  percentages of minorities benefit from full-day
  programs. Schools with more racial equality
  benefit less
• Full-day programs are double the amount of time
  spent in school, but not necessarily double
  instruction

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Conclusions

• Full-day programs provide a greater benefit, but
  are more costly
• Full-day kindergarten is more available to
  children in urban areas with lower SES
• Advantages from a full-day program are affected
  by the schools region and racial composition

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Conclusions (continued)

• Full-day programs are not twice the instruction
  time, but students still benefit socially and
  academically from the extra time spent in school
• These findings influence school policy and
  suggest the need to analyze whether the benefits
  of full-day programs outweigh the cost

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Reflections

• While the research questions are very specific,
  many of the studys findings discuss factors
  irrelevant to the purpose
• The statistical method used to analyze results
  (HLM) isnt explained very well
• Article wording and organization is repetitive
  and inefficient
• The study only addresses benefits in math and
  literacy, and ignores influence on social and
  emotional development
• It is stated that 75-90 of private schools have
  full-day programs, but this is not discussed
  alongside the results

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Thank you! ?Any questions?