Characteristics of Effective Kindergarten Programs

As noted earlier in the booklet, reaping the benefits of full-day kindergarten probably has as much—if not more—to do with the quality of curriculum and instruction as it does with the length of the kindergarten day (Karweit, 1992, p. 85). High-quality full-day programs meet the same basic criteria that high-quality half-day programs do: they are "developmentally appropriate, informal, [and] intellectually engaging" (Miller, 2002), teaching children academic skills "within a play-based curriculum that takes into account the wide range of skill levels present in a kindergarten classroom…" (Porch, 2002).

According to a report from the ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education (EECE), the most effective kindergartens:

• Integrate new learning with past experiences through project work and through mixed-ability and mixed-age grouping in an unhurried setting;
• Involve children in firsthand experience and informal interaction with objects, other children, and adults;
• Emphasize language development and appropriate emergent literacy experiences;
• Make it easier to work with parents to share information about their children, and build understanding of parent and teacher roles;
• Emphasize reading to children in school and at home, and set the stage for later parent-teacher partnerships;
• Offer a balance of large-group, and individual activities;
• Assess students’ progress through close teacher observation and systematic collection and examination of students’ work, often by using portfolios; and
• Develop children’s social skills, including conflict resolution strategies.

(Miller, 2002)

Small class sizes, well-designed classrooms, high levels of parent involvement, and extras such as P.E., art, and music are also associated with effective programs (Graue, 1999; Vecchiotti, 2001).

For more information on effective kindergarten practices, including early literacy, see the Resources section of this booklet.