Full-Day Kindergarten Proving Beneficial for Dearborn Schools

It is 8:50 am in Nicole Bush’s kindergarten-first grade split class at Whitmore-Bolles Elementary, and student Landon Schoolmaster is demonstrating his knowledge of the calendar date to his classmates.

The lesson, said Bush, is to impart on the young students number placement, which has long been part of the Dearborn Public Schools curriculum. But it’s not something that she had a lot of time to teach prior to the Dearborn Board of Education’s decision to replace its half-day kindergarten with a full-day structure at its 21 elementary schools starting in 2009.

“There were so many things that we had to do in the half-day format,” said Bush, a teacher for 13 years. “The full-day program is better because there’s more time to teach everything we need to–more time for literacy, math, science–the things they need to prepare for the first grade.”

Now midway through the third year of full-day kindergarten, the change has proved to be a boon for the district and the students.

Ahead of the Curve

Because of new provisions that were long-debated at the state level and eventually implemented, school districts will only qualify for regular full-time equivalency per-student funding for the 2012-13 school year if they implement full-day kindergarten.

This has created a push for full-day programming at districts that do not have the option. In Dearborn, officials had already determined that it made sense.

“It is best for kids; brain research supports early education,” said Dearborn Public Schools Supt. Brian Whiston. “So, to improve student achievement and to meet parent needs, we moved to all day kindergarten.”

And the numbers have spoken for themselves.

In the first year of the program at DPA, kindergarten enrollment jumped by 197 students, which translates to about $1.5 million in funding. Also, the district estimates that 67 older siblings of kindergarten students were enrolled at the district in 2009-10, which brought in an additional $536,000.

Working Out the Kinks

Leading up to the 2009-08 school year, a committee comprised of district officials, school board members and parents debated the pros and cons of full-day kindergarten, and addressed concerns of parents that were apprehensive of making the change, said Colette Richards, the president of the Dearborn Schools Parent-Teacher-Student Association Council.

“There were some parents that were concerned," she said. "There are some kids that just can’t handle a full day of school."

But Richards said there has been little comment about the program since its inception.

“I haven’t heard anything negative about it," she added. "And I have to say I’m glad (the district) acted when they did because it wasn’t done in a rush, and it was done in the right way.”

The program was implemented over two school years. According to data provided by DPS, 17 students were enrolled part-time in 2009-10. The following year, all kindergarten classes were full-day.

Instituting full-day classes also caused some logistical and staffing issues at first, said district spokesman David Mustonen. Some buildings had to shuffle rooms to make room for new students and educators, while 13.5 teachers were added to the roster, with another six added to handle increased enrollment.

Good for Children?

Data compiled by DPS in 2009 indicated that 65 percent of kindergartners nationwide had the opportunity to attend all-day kindergarten at that time.

The number of districts in Michigan with full-day-only options continues to grow. In January, L'Anse Creuse and Chippewa Valley Schools voted to implement the policy. Utica Community Schools did the same. Both districts cited state funding changes as part of the reason for the switch.

Jill Chochol, the assistant superintendent for elementary education at DPS, said the district is seeing continuing improvement among kindergartners, and will likely do a formal assessment at the 3-year mark.

“It's worked out well for students,” she said. “Our teachers are reporting that the students are doing much better with the basics under the full day program, which is the most important goal.”

In Nicole Bush’s classroom, many facts about full-day kindergarten can be confirmed at the ground level.

“Even though the curriculum didn’t change, the students are exposed to concepts for a longer period of time, and they’re retaining that information,” she said.

The best part of the program is that teachers are also able to build a stronger bond with students in a year that arguably sets the tone for a young person’s academic career, said Bush.

“We get to know the children better,” she said. “That’s really important.”