Tag: Is Full day Kindergarten

March 17,2016

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, Fishbein presented a recommendation to the Board on bringing full-day Kindergarten to Ridgewood. His proposal is to fund a full-day program through a tax increase approved by voters this November in a second question.

While is seems an obvious great deal for parents , shifting costs away from baby sitters , the NJEA more teachers , the Ridgewood blog has yet to hear a definitive answer on how this is going to help the kids?

A study from Chloe R. Gibbs at the University of Virginia holds some preliminary good news for proponents of full-day kindergarten.

“Though many of the most important implications of the study won’t be clear until the students studied are much older, the first-of-its-kind randomized trial of full-day kindergarten shows sizable learning advantages for full-day students at the end of the kindergarten year.” https://www.edcentral.org/fullday-k-research/

While in the past the longer day seems to have far greater impact in districts in lower social economic standing than Ridgewood .

Same study ,”As a result, any difference in the groups’ outcomes may be due to full-day kindergarten or may be caused by other differences in their lives outside the classroom — such as disparities in access to learning opportunities and academic support at home — typically associated with living in poverty.” https://www.edcentral.org/fullday-k-research/

Residents have till now expressed concerns over costs , and what some parents have characterized as the “loss of childhood” . While others have felt it necessary given this era of overuse of standardized tests , but many are just not sold on the notion that longer hours equal better education .