The Fairfax School Board has been investigating a full-day kindergarten option for several years. Based on this interest, the Board charged a committee with looking at the benefits of providing full-day kindergarten for the Fairfax community. The following Fact Sheet is provided by the School Board to offer the community information regarding the issue of full-day kindergarten.
A WestEd educational policy brief (April 2005) provides an overview of the educational research designed to examine the effects of full-day kindergarten and the concerns that communities must address in implementing this strategy. The brief cites many of the concerns that have surfaced in our kindergarten discussions. The entire brief is available at the BFA website under K Fact Sheet.
According to WestEd’s review of recent empirical research, the weight of the evidence shows that full-day kindergarten benefits children in the following ways:
· Contributes to increased school readiness
· Leads to higher academic achievement
· Improves student attendance
· Supports literacy and language development
· Benefits children socially and emotionally
· Decreases costs by reducing retention and remediation rates
In considering whether and how to implement a full day kindergarten program decision makers should be aware of some common concerns:
· Demands on children
· Accessibility
· Costs
· Local autonomy
· Lack of clarity concerning duration of benefits
Additional Considerations:
· We currently enroll sixty (60) students in a partial-day kindergarten program from 8:25-12:00. This year we offer an extended-day kindergarten program to twelve (12) students, allowing them extra time in the afternoon to develop literacy and mathematics readiness skills. This is a supplemental service supported by federal funds. It offers select students a full day of kindergarten.
· The additional two-and-a-half hours added to the kindergarten day will allow teachers to teach the kindergarten grade-level expectations (GE’s), defined by the state, in a relaxed and developmentally appropriate manner. There will be no curriculum additions as we move to a full day kindergarten.
· Kindergarten students will be served a family-style lunch in their classrooms, avoiding the confusion of the large lunchroom atmosphere. Kindergarten students will have two 20-30 minute recesses each day, one in the morning and one after lunch. At least one of these recesses will be outside if weather permits.
· A 20 minute quiet choice time following lunch is a part of our elementary routine. Kindergarten teachers will build this into their schedule.
· Kindergarten parents will have the option of choosing to pick up their child at mid-day if they choose. Full-day kindergarten will be offered as an option for every family. There will be no mid day bus run.
· The cost of moving from an extended-day program to a full-day program for all students is approximately $70,000. This includes increasing each kindergarten teacher and classroom assistant by 33%. This is equivalent to adding one full-time teacher and support staff to next year’s budget.
· No additional bus purchase is required to support the full-day kindergarten option. Ten thousand dollars has been added to the co-curricular budget to cover the costs of transportation if there are two buses needed for after school events.
· The School Board will determine whether full-day kindergarten is included in the 2009-2010 budget.
Draft Full Day Kindergarten Schedule
| # of Minutes | | Activity |
| 15-20 minutes | | Morning Routines, Free Choice |
| 15-20 minutes | | Morning Meeting |
| 90 minutes | | Early Literacy |
| 20-30 minutes | | Recess, Snack |
| 60 minutes | | Bridges in Mathematics |
| 60 minutes | | Lunch/Recess |
| 15-20 minutes | | Quiet Time |
| 45 minutes | | Art, Music, PE |
| 45 minutes | | Science/Social studies |
