What Does the Research Say?

Unfortunately, drawing conclusions from the existing research on full-day kindergarten is not easy—in part because kindergarten practices and student populations vary so widely from school to school. Many of the benefits associated with full-day kindergarten remain anecdotal, or are based on single-district studies that failed to control for family income level, mobility, parents’ level of education, or other factors that may affect student performance, regardless of kindergarten schedule. Isolating the effects of extra class time from factors such as class size, teaching methodology, teacher experience, and parent involvement has also proven to be difficult. A change in curriculum alone when moving from half-day to a full-day schedule may be responsible for differences in academic achievement (Elicker, 2000).

Another problem with the available research on full-day kindergarten is that there have been few studies in which students were assigned randomly to the full- and half-day classrooms being studied (Elicker, 2000; Weiss & Offenberg, 2002). Instead, particularly in pilot programs, students tend to be enrolled in full-day kindergarten voluntarily. Far from providing a random sample of the student population, this practice may tilt research in favor of full-day kindergarten simply because greater numbers of educationally advantaged children signed up.

As a result of these limitations, findings on full-day kindergarten are often mixed. (For an annotated list of some of these studies, see the Resources section.) James Elicker, an early childhood researcher at Purdue University, conducted a two-year evaluation of a Wisconsin full-day program, and critically reviewed the research on full-day kindergarten (see Elicker, 2000; Elicker & Mathur, 1997). Elicker’s examination of the research yields the following conclusions:

• Students participating in full-day kindergarten consistently progress further academically during the kindergarten year, as assessed by achievement tests, than students in either half-day or alternate-day programs.
• There is tentative evidence that full-day kindergarten has stronger, longer-lasting academic benefits for children from low-income families or others with fewer educational resources prior to kindergarten.
• There is not current, strong evidence that the academic achievement gains of full-day kindergarten persist beyond first grade for all students.
• There is no evidence for detrimental effects of full-day kindergarten. The full-day curriculum, if developmentally appropriate for five- and six-year-olds, does not seem to overly stress or pressure kindergarten children.
• Kindergarten teachers and parents strongly value the increased flexibility and opportunities to communicate and individualize instruction for children offered by the full-day schedule.

(Elicker, 2000, pp. 8–9)

Practitioners and parents have attributed several benefits to full-day kindergarten:

Benefits for students

• More "time and opportunity to play with language" (Fromberg, 1995, p. 236), as well as to explore subjects in depth (Vecchiotti, 2001)
• A more flexible, individualized learning environment (Vecchiotti, 2001)
• More individual and small-group interaction with the teacher than is possible in most half-day classrooms (Porch, 2002; Vecchiotti, 2001)

Benefits for parents

• Lowered childcare costs possible (Rothenberg, 1995)
• The opportunity for lower-income families to enroll children in a higher quality early education program than might otherwise be affordable in the private market (Vecchiotti, 2001)
• Less difficulty scheduling childcare and transportation (Vecchiotti, 2001)
• Increased opportunities to get involved in their children’s classroom, as well as to communicate with the teacher

Benefits for teachers

• Reduced ratio of transition time to learning time (Miller, 2002)
• More time to spend with students individually and in small groups (Porch, 2002)
• More time to get to know and communicate with parents (Vecchiotti, 2001)
• More time to assess students and individualize instruction to their needs and interests (Nelson, 2000; Vecchiotti, 2001)
• Fewer total students—20 to 25 per year as compared to 40 to 50—than in two half-day classrooms (Elicker, 2000)

The Northwest Sampler section of this booklet chronicles observations from regional educators about benefits and challenges to full-day kindergarten.