Problem studied:

In addressing which is the best environment for young children, the redevelopment of the full‑day kindergarten program has come into focus in the United States. The past function of the kindergarten program was to provide children with their first school experience, but now that is the role of the prekindergarten, nursery school, or day care experience. There are some children who will come to kindergarten without being involved in any type of school experience and the kindergarten program must be able to provide for the needs of all children. Kindergarten children in today's society enter school with diverse experiences/backgrounds and abilities giving them a much wider range of capabilities and a need for a program that will provide them with more opportunities to develop not only academically, but also instill in them a responsibility for themselves and their actions (Harrison‑McEachern, 1989). This new function of kindergarten has led to a specific controversy between the full‑day and half‑day kindergarten schedules. Some researchers maintain that what we call these programs matters little, but what really matters is what we offer the children in them (Caldwell, 1989; Clark, 2001). This concept has surfaced in the decisions effecting public school kindergarten policies. The importance of early childhood education for later performance in school has been realized. A focus on full‑day or all‑day kindergarten, which lengthens the amount of time children spend in school each day and varies from four to eight hours, is being revisited. Some researchers feel that extended time in school allows more time for the development of school readiness skills, which are of great concern to parents and educators (Harrison‑McEachern, 1989; Nelson, 2000; Olsen & Zigler, 1989). This research has directed my focus on the following question:

Will a full‑day kindergarten program impact the reading performance of first grade students and will this impact continue to effect their growth in reading?

 

Outcomes/ Significance of the Problem:

•      determined if the extra time engaged in a full‑day kindergarten program benefited the students and did this extra time significantly impact the reading ability of the first grade students

•      informed the administration of the Stoughton Public Schools of the results of this inquiry in order for them to determine whether the time (longer kindergarten day) and money required to have a full‑day kindergarten program had been used beneficially

•      provided the findings to educators from school districts of similar socioeconomic backgrounds and environments to assist them in the development of their educational theory or practice

•      shared the outcomes of the research with the kindergarten teachers to show areas of strengths and weaknesses to help direct future instruction

•      shared the results of the research with first grade teachers to show areas of strengths and weaknesses to help form instructional groups and direct instruction

•      informed each successive grade's teachers of the full‑day kindergarten research results and perhaps, the need for articulation in these grades in the area of reading

                                               

 

Review of Research:

*Click here to view Review of Research.

 

Method used:

a. Materials:

•      Town of Stoughton's first grade reading readiness assessment (assessed literacy areas in: shapes, color words, number words, numerals, identification of upper and lower case letters, letter sounds, and sight words from the San Diego words lists) See attached sheet.

b. Population:

•      All first grade students who attended half‑day and full‑day kindergarten

c. Subjects:

•      All first grade students at the Helen H. Hansen Elementary School in

September of 1999 and 2000 after completing a half‑day kindergarten

program at the Helen H. Hansen Elementary School.

•      All first grade students at the Helen H. Hansen Elementary School in the fall of 2001 and 2002 after completing a full‑day kindergarten program at the Helen H. Hansen Elementary School.

 

Independent variable (intervention):

•      the full‑day kindergarten schedule and the half‑day kindergarten schedule.

 

Dependent variable:

•      the first grade students' assessment scores from Stoughton's First Grade Reading Assessment in September of 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2002

 

Design:

            Nonequivalent-Groups Design (Best & Kahn, 1998, p. 175)

•      groups were nonrandomly assigned

•      quantitative research analyzed the data from the September first grade assessment scores for two half‑day kindergarten school years (1999 & 2000) and two full‑day kindergarten school years (2001 & 2002)

•      quasi‑experimental design provided "control of when and to whom the measurement was applied, but because random assignment and control treatments had not been  applied, the equivalence of the groups are not assured" (Best & Kahn, 1998, p. 175)

 

                      Procedure:

•     assessment results of the first grade students of the Helen H. Hansen Elementary School from the researcher's previous assessment records in September, 1999, 2000, and 2001 were assembled

•     first grade students of the Helen H, Hansen Elementary School in September, 2002 were given the same previous assessment as the classes of September, 1999, 2000, and 2001

•     the average scores (mean) in each area of the assessment and the total assessment scores of the first grade students attending half‑day kindergarten were compared to the average scores (mean) in each area of the assessment and the total assessment scores of the first grade students attending full‑day kindergarten

•     the data was used to determine the impact on the first grade students' reading readiness and/or reading ability

•     bar graphs of each group's scores were used to visually demonstrate the score comparisons

•      a follow‑up to determine the number of students retained in first grade after each year of the investigation

•      notice was taken of the number of first grade students who did not attend kindergarten at the Helen H. Hansen Elementary School

 

Assessments:

•     Stoughton's town‑wide first grade assessment which contained eight (8) assessments in the areas of: shapes (5), color words (11), number words (11), numerals (11), lower case letter identification (26), upper case letter identification (26), letter sounds (26), and San Diego sight word list (50)

•     interviews with the kindergarten teacher, first grade teachers, and second grade teacher discussed observations of their students' classroom behavior and reading readiness/ reading abilities described differences after half‑day and full‑day kindergarten programs

 

Validity of Assessment:

•    internal validity: half‑day and full‑day kindergarten programs at the Helen H. Hansen Elementary School had a genuine effect on the reading readiness assessment scores

•    external validity: the results of the research can be compared to other settings, other treatment variables, other measurement variables, and other populations

•    assessment was given one‑on‑one by the same person (researcher has no previous knowledge of the subjects), during the same time period each year, following the same procedure, using the same test format, to the students from the same school

•      differences:

          1. the length of the kindergarten day the previous year

          2. second teacher added to one of the two full‑day kindergarten classes in 2000

          and a third teacher added to a third full‑day kindergarten class in 2001

           3. newly introduced guided reading and writing strategies and instruction

 

Data Analysis:

•      the mean score for each section of the assessment (shapes, color words, number words, numerals, lower case letters, upper case letters, letter sounds, and sight words) given in September of 1999, 2000, 2001, & 2002 was computed and

compared

 

Research Links:

Many methods and theories have come and gone, yet most have been found to support the concept of a full‑day kindergarten program (Bryant & Clifford, 1992). Theorists currently suggest that large blocks of time are required for optimal learning conditions during the early years.

"Vygotsky believed that mental functions are acquired through social relationships in which adults scaffold for children when necessary, stepping back at the appropriate time and allowing youngsters to internalize activities, emulate behaviors, and incorporate them into existing structures of knowledge. Providing opportunities for this type of process learning requires large blocks of time for exploration, and a variety of experiences and materials. This is not always possible in the constraints of a half‑day program" (Morrow, Strickland, & Woo, 1998, p. 11).

                  Connecting such theories to literacy development in early childhood is critical. Developmental programs should draw from theorists such as Vygotsky whose theories have far reaching implications for the education of young children (Walsh, 1989, Ruddell & Ruddell, 1994). Many studies have shown the positive effect of intervention in children's language development, as well as, problem solving abilities, and a variety of cognitive skills. This is also a time when children begin their drive towards independence as well as develop their self­esteem, social awareness, and peer interactions. A healthy focus on the development of these areas during the first year of schooling will prove integral to future academic and social functioning (Magnani & Galvin, 1995; West, Denton, & Reaney, 2001).

According to recent research in early childhood development, a five‑year‑old's brain is most receptive to learning, and can be exposed to a broader curriculum that can be offered in a full‑day program (Alber‑Kelsay, 1998; Holmes & McConnell, 1990). This is the time in a child's life when education proves to be most beneficial. It is imperative' that the child of five be given an education, which is developmentally appropriate, which will be immediately satisfying, and which will help build good foundations from which his future education can be built. Stimulating activities help a young brain build the neural connectors that will carry learning and independent thought (Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children, 2000). Through these education practices, the child would be able to develop all the physical, mental, social, and emotional support needed now and in the future (Harrison‑McEachern, 1989; Holmes & McConnell, 1990). The early years of a child's life are critical for building the foundations for later school learning, not only in the social‑emotional development of a child, but also in the development of critical cognitive skills that are needed for reading and writing. We now know that children can learn to an acceptable mastery when provided with appropriate instruction presented at their developmental level. The use of diagnosis and remediation as part of the teaching‑learning strategy will help the teacher recognize the child's stages of learning and supply the appropriate learning experience for all kindergarten children, regardless of the length of the school day (Harrison‑McEachern, 1989; Karweit, 1992; Naron, 1981).

"As all too many curricula are oriented to learning products (knowing shapes and colors, numbers and letters, and so forth) rather than to learning processes (how to think, how to solve problems), it is inevitable that these children are going to appear ready for something other than what many schools traditionally offer" (Caidwell, 1989, p. 264).

The function and form of the kindergarten experience must be reexamined. Parents want a kindergarten program that reflects the reality that their children have spent three to four years in preschool or day care and now need something that is different from what previous kindergarten programs had offered.

Research reflects a need for change in kindergarten programs. Many towns are contemplating extending the traditional half‑day of kindergarten to a full‑day program. Stoughton, Massachusetts is one of those towns. I have been fortunate to be witness to this change and was able to reflect on the impact of the reading preparation of first grade students after both a half‑day kindergarten program and a full‑day kindergarten program. Even though full‑day kindergartens are currently being rediscovered throughout many public school systems, the programs appear much different from those in the past. It was my focus to determine if and what the current research findings held true for the town of Stoughton students at the Helen H. Hansen Elementary School.

 

Limitations in the conditions of this experiment:

•      same teacher instructed both half‑day kindergarten programs and 2 and then 3 different teachers for full‑day kindergarten (to minimize class sizes)

•      sample sizes were small (45 & 36; 37 & 44)

•      students were from the same grade, same school, same time

•      the results of this study were limited to the performance of the students at this time in this place

•      all first grade students (subjects) had not attended the kindergarten program in the Helen H. Hansen Elementary School

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Research References:

 

•    Best, J. & Kahn, J. (1998). Research in education 8th edition. Boston, MA: Allyn and

     Bacon.

•    Kamil, M., Langer, J., & Shanahan, T. (1985). Understanding reading and writing

      research. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.