Full-Day vs. Half-Day Kindergarten

1
Full-Day vs. Half-Day Kindergarten

• Which is more effective?
• By Katherine Kessinger

2
History

• The concept of Kindergarten was created by German
  educator Friedrich Froebel
• Froebel wanted to develop a program that would
  stress the importance of the natural growth of
  children through play
• In 1837 he developed the first kindergarten, and
  in the 1850s kindergartens began to be
  established throughout the United States and
  Western Europe
• Froebel never gave much attention the length of
  a kindergarten day, and kindergarten in the
  United States actually began as a full day
  program
• After World War II a shortage of qualified
  teachers, building space, and the idea that
  five-year-olds werent ready for full-day
  kindergarten caused the half day program to
  become popular

3
Characteristics of Half-Day Kindergarten

• Half-Day kindergarten programs usually last 2 ½
  hours
• Half-Day programs are divided into AM and PM
  classes
• In the morning one set of students comes into a
  class, and after lunch a new set of students
  comes in till the end of the day

4
Characteristics of Full-day Kindergarten

• Full-Day Kindergarten extends the time the
  students are in school from 2 ½ hours to 6 hours,
  allowing more time things like large group, small
  group, center activities, active play, movement
  activities and hands on investigations
• Its goal is to allow children more time to learn
  in a less rushed atmosphere

5
Full-Day Kindergarten

• Advantages
• Provides a slower paced less hurried environment
• Students receive and early introduction to the
  reading and writing process
• Teachers have more time to work individually with
  students, and are better able to address unique
  needs
• More opportunities for group activities, and
  socialization
• Helps prepare kids for first grade by getting
  them adjusted to a full-day setting

• Disadvantages
• Estimated to cost half a million dollars to make
  the transition in each school
• Many school do not have the classroom space for
  the doubled amount of teachers needed
• Some believe that there is no great difference in
  the programs, and that the money could be spent
  on other things
• Increases the work load of teachers because they
  now have to plan activities for an entire day

6
Half-day Kindergarten

• Advantages
• Provides high quality education for children
  while getting them acquainted to school
• Provides continuity and structure without to much
  stress
• Considering the attention span and level of
  interest of a five-year-old it is plenty of time
  in school

• Disadvantages
• Children are disrupted half way through the day
  to move from one program to another
• Parents are inconvenienced by having to provide
  transportation and child care
• Teachers are more stressed, and it is harder for
  children to learn in less than three hours
• Does not produce well rounded students because
  there is not enough time for music, and art

7
Which is more effective???

• Many studies have been done to answer this
  question but there has been controversy over the
  validity of them. There is however a lot of
  evidence and support in favor of full-day
  kindergarten. Students have been more likely to
  score higher on standardized reading and math
  tests, and there has been increased attendance.
  Teachers and parents seem to be in favor of the
  full-day program. It is still hard however for
  school districts to decide whether it is worth
  the cost because on some standardized tests such
  as science half-day students out performed
  full-day students

8
Conclusion

• States should leave full-day programs optional
  until further investigation is done
• Simply adding more time to kindergarten programs
  that are not successful will not make them more
  successful. There need to be assurances that the
  programs are well devised, executed, and staffed
  by properly trained teachers- Mark Ginsberg,
  Executive director of NAEYC