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
Note: CEDS Connections offer guidance, including data elements and step-by-step analysis recommendations, for how to calculate select metrics.
Type(s) of Data Needed
Administrative dataWhy 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. 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. As of 2020, 18 states required districts to offer full-day kindergarten, and more than 80 percent of kindergarteners attended a full-day program. 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.
It is worth noting that only 20 states require children to attend kindergarten, and overall enrollment fell sharply during the COVID-19 pandemic. 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).
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. 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. 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. 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
The framework's recommendations are based on syntheses of existing research. Please see the framework report for a list of works cited.