Indicator: Access to full-day kindergarten

Definition

Children have access to full-day kindergarten programs taught by the same certificated staff member in a day.

Recommended Metric(s)

Percentage of schools and districts offering kindergarten programs that are six hours per day for five days per week

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Percentage of schools and districts offering kindergarten programs that are six hours per day for five days per week

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Type(s) of Data Needed

Administrative data

Why it matters

Full-day kindergarten is an increasingly popular option for families due to dual parental workforce participation and has been shown to narrow achievement disparities for children of color.1, 2  Latino students enrolled in full-day kindergarten have been shown to have particularly large gains relative to their peers in half-day kindergarten: the disparity in literacy scores between Latino and non-Latino children attending full-day kindergarten is 0.3 standard deviations, compared to 0.9 standard deviations for children in half-day programs.3 As of 2020, 18 states required districts to offer full-day kindergarten,4 and more than 80 percent of kindergarteners attended a full-day program.5  Full-day programs are more prevalent in schools with higher shares of students from low-income households and students of color; however, enrollment in full-day kindergarten is significantly lower for Latino students than for Black students.6

It is worth noting that only 20 states require children to attend kindergarten, and overall enrollment fell sharply during the COVID-19 pandemic.7 Nationwide, kindergarten enrollment declined by 9 percent between the 2019–2020 and 2020–2021 school years, with larger decreases for Black students (10 percent), White students (11 percent), and Indigenous students (13 percent).8

What to know about measurement

In states that do not require districts to offer full-day kindergarten, provision can vary widely. As one example, in California, where full-day kindergarten is not required, 19 percent of districts offered only half-day programs.9 Given that participation is not required in many states, systems should also monitor enrollment in these programs.

We note that this indicator does not encompass quality because there is less consensus in the field as to how to define and measure quality kindergarten. For example, some have used Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS®) scores to measure classroom quality, with kindergarten CLASS scores predicting higher test scores in language, math, and executive function skills at the end of kindergarten.10 Others have measured kindergarten quality based on measures of teacher experience and small class sizes, and found these elements were related to higher scores on standardized academic cognitive assessments and higher salaries in adulthood.11  To assess quality in kindergarten, we encourage framework users to measure multiple K–12 system indicators that appear in the framework, such as teacher experience and classroom observations of instructional practice, for all relevant grades, including kindergarten.
 

Source frameworks

This indicator appeared in three source frameworks reviewed for this report. Our proposed approach builds on work by the Center on Enhancing Early Learning outcomes (CEELO) in collaboration with the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), which recommends measuring the “percent of schools and/or districts offering full day kindergarten.”

References

    • 9

      California Department of Education. (2022). Kindergarten in California. https://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/gs/em/kinderinfo.asp 

    • 10

      Araujo, M. C., Carneiro, P., Cruz-Aguayo, Y., & Schady, N. (2016). Teacher quality and learning outcomes in kindergarten. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 131(3), 1415–1453. https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjw016

    • 11

      Chetty, R., Friedman, J. N., Hilger, N., Saez, E., Schanzenbach, D. W., & Yagan, D. (2011). How does your kindergarten classroom affect your earnings? Evidence from Project STAR. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 126(4), 1593–1660. https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjr041 

    • 1

      Cooper, H., Patall, E., Batts Allen, A., & Dent, A. l. (2010). Effects of full-day kindergarten on academic achievement and social development. Review of Educational Research, 80(1), 34-70. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654309359185

    • 2

      Hahn, R. A., Rammohan, V., Truman, B. I., Milstein, B., Johnson, R. L., Muntaner, C., Jones, C. P., Fullilove, M. T., Chattopadhyay, S. K., Hunt, P. C., Abraido-Lanza, A. F., & the Community Preventive Services Task Force. (2014). Effects of full-day kindergarten on the long-term health prospects of children in low-income and racial/ethnic-minority populations: A community guide systematic review. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 46, 312–323. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2012.12.003

    • 3

      Gibbs, C. (2017). Does full-day kindergarten reduce achievement gaps? University of Notre Dame. https://www.irp.wisc.edu/publications/focus/pdfs/foc332d3.pdf

    • 4

      Education Commission of the States. (2020). State kindergarten-through-third-grade policies. Does the state require the district to offer kindergarten and if so, full or half day? What exemptions exist for districts? https://reports.ecs.org/comparisons/state-k-3-policies-07

    • 5

      National Center for Education Statistics. (2021a). Digest of education statistics, 2019, 55th edition. Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. https://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2021009

    • 6

      National Center for Education Statistics. (2004). Full-day and half-day kindergarten in the United States: Findings from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998–99. Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. https://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2004078 

    • 7

      See Education Commission of the States (2020). 

    • 8

      Institute of Education Sciences. (2022). Information on the Common Core of Data (CCD). U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences. https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/files.asp#Fiscal:2,LevelId:2,SchoolYearId:34,Page:1