Researching full-day kindergarten, Warsaw Community Schools Director of Special Services Deb Blatz found it has lots of benefits for students.
Monday, Blatz will present a plan to the school board for WCS to implement full-day kindergarten for all Warsaw elementary schools. Tentatively, at the April 25 school board meeting, the board will then be asked to approve the plan beginning with the 2011-12 academic year.
In an interview with Blatz and Chief Financial Officer Kevin Scott Thursday, Blatz said Warsaw Schools has been discussing full-day kindergarten for several years as a corporation. Until the new elementary schools were opened at the start of the current school year, Warsaw just didn't have the room for it.
"We've known it would be a very good thing for a very long time," Blatz said.
Among the positives she found in her research, she said, was that full-day kindergarten would allow for more time for students to be involved in the curriculum and improve their standardized test scores, especially in math. A study by the School Board Association, Blatz said, found that ISTEP scores in math for third-graders improved in those students who had had full-day kindergarten.
In half-day kindergarten, the focus is more on literacy. While they do learn math, there is less of it. Full-day kindergarten would allow more time for other areas like math.
Another benefit with full-day kindergarten, Blatz said, is the idea of children's social skills being enhanced. Children will have more opportunities during the day to share and interact, and more chances for teachers to share social skills with their students.
Full-day kindergarten has been associated with fewer grade retentions, Blatz said. Beginning with the current second-graders, the state has decided, if a third-grader doesn't pass the I-READ test, they won't move on to fourth grade.
"It's definitely been shown to be a positive," Blatz said of full-day kindergarten.
Another reason for full-day kindergarten now at WCS, Blatz said, is that the Common Core Standards, accepted by 26 states, are to begin with the 2011-12 school year. The standards will be very rigorous and will take more learning on the students' part, so the timing is perfect, she said.
"These standards now drive what we do in our curriculum," Blatz said. "Our kindergarten teachers are advocates for this." They know what the standards are and what it will take to meet them, she said.
The areas of science, social studies and integrated technology in kindergarten is difficult to do in 2-1/2 hours, especially with reading, writing and arithmetic already on the plate. A full-day will provide more time for more options and in-depth study.
"We will make sure the kindergarten program is developmental to a 5-year-old's needs," Blatz said.
"From the research and experience from other districts that have had (full-day kindergarten), kids do develop more stamina over a full day," she said.
Under the plan to be proposed to the school board, Blatz said full-day kindergarten would be offered beginning with the 2011-12 school year. It is predicated with parents' interest in it.
Also Monday night, Warsaw Community Schools will have its kindergarten round-up at each of the elementary schools. Parents at that time will be introduced to the concept of full-day kindergarten, and asked to take a survey on it. The paper surveys also will be available at each of the elementary schools and online. The surveys will be available in English and Spanish.
The full-day kindergarten will be optional. Parents will still be able to enroll their kindergartner in half day only if they choose.
Currently, WCS employs 12-1/2 kindergarten teachers teaching half day. For full-day kindergarten, Warsaw would need to double that, at maximum, Scott said.
Funding by the state for full-day kindergarten depends on the amount of participation by schools, Scott said. The more schools that participate, the more the funding is divided among the public and charter schools. Blatz said about 300 Indiana schools currently offer full-day kindergarten, including Whitko, Tippecanoe Valley and Wawasee. Wawasee's program is optional.
Scott said it looks like state participation may be closer to 70 percent, but he looked at closer to 80 percent for their calculations.
Transportation will be provided to and from school for full-day kindergarten. Currently, transportation for kindergartners is only offered one way with half-day kindergarten. Students also will be able to take advantage of lunch and breakfast.
"This way, kids can receive meals at school," said Scott.
In her research, Blatz said, she found some school districts offer a full-day program but it's not full-day kindergarten because it's not taught by a licensed teacher. That is not the direction WCS wants to go, she said. Their plan is to have fully licensed kindergarten teachers.
"The intent is for it to be cost neutral to us," Scott said.
For kindergarten students, districts only get half of the amount of money from the state. WCS gets $5,500 per student, but only $2,750 for kindergarten, Scott said. The state will provide a full-day kindergarten grant to WCS for offering the program, but the amount will depend on how many districts offer full-day kindergarten.
"We won't learn what the reimbursement is until the fall when the state learns what numbers they have," Blatz said.
For the 2010-11 school year, WCS had slightly more than 500 kindergarten students. For 2011-12, its projecting as many as 400 students may take the full-day kindergarten option.
"The reason we use such a high number is when we had the Title I program at Jefferson and Lincoln, they had full-day kindergarten at those buildings and it had a high participation rate," Scott said.
"Our principals are very excited about this," said Blatz.
