More school districts are offering full-day kindergarten programs as educational standards now place a greater emphasis on a strong curriculum for the young learners. STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER ERIC SUCAR Many of New Jersey’s educational leaders agree that full-day kindergarten is a bona fide plus for students. But to establish the more intensive programs, school districts must overcome financial hurdles.
A bill that would establish a task force to consider the possibility of a statewide implementation of full-day kindergarten classes cleared the state Assembly in June, and is now before the state Senate Education Committee.
In the 2012-13 school year, more than 70,000 of the state’s 92,000 public kindergarten students learned in full-day settings, according to the state Department of Education (DOE). Despite the high percentage, 117 school districts still only offered half-day programs.
Looming changes to New Jersey’s educational infrastructure — including the aggressive Common Core State Standards and the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers test — place a greater emphasis on the importance of strong kindergarten courses, said David Cittadino, superintendent of schools in Old Bridge.
Students take part in a kindergarten promotion ceremony at Ranney School, Tinton Falls, in June. Officials at the school say the full-day program allows students to explore and develop a love of learning. “If you take a look at the Common Core standards, it is written for a full-day kindergarten program,” said Cittadino, whose district is kicking off a full-day pilot program in September. “It doesn’t even take into account the possibility of having a half-day kindergarten program.”
That’s crucial, because the standards will guide the rest of a student’s career in public schools in New Jersey and nearly every other state. Cittadino said he was told by a state official that districts without full-day programs would be doing their students a disservice.
It’s not hard to imagine why some educators believe more time in the classroom would help students grasp the enhanced standards. One of the tenets of the Common Core standards calls for kindergartners to drastically increase their understanding of writing, Cittadino said.
“At least a paragraph is expected to be written by the end of the kindergarten year, which is a far stretch from what we expect our kindergarten students to do now,” he said. “You have to have some level of [mastery] of reading to be able to write.” According to Ellen Wolock, administrator of the state Division of Early Childhood Education, full-day kindergarten leads to a trove of positives for kids. They gain in overall school readiness, academic achievement, literacy, social skills and even attendance, she said.
The argument can be trimmed to an even simpler concept: More time in the classroom leads to greater success, said Colts Neck Superintendent of Schools Fredrik Oberkehr, whose district will implement full-day kindergarten classes in the coming school year.
“One of the most undisputable pieces of research about education is time on task,” Oberkehr said. “The more time that a teacher or instructional professional has with a kid, the better they are going to do. Anything we can do to improve or increase that instructional time is going to benefit the kids.”
There are ways to keep 5-year-olds in school all day, even if their districts do not offer such programs. Private institutions often hold full-day classes, and some public districts provide tuitionbased complement programs. Both of those options require a parent to write a check.
About 20 percent of kindergarten-age children are enrolled in private settings like the Ranney School in Tinton Falls, according to the DOE. There, students receive an experience that strays far from those of public-school learners.
“A full-day program at Ranney School allows our kindergartners to explore music, art and world languages such as Chinese, French and Spanish,” said Patricia Marshall, head of the Lower School and associate head of academic administration at Ranney. Students also learn how to swim, participate in science labs and use computers, she said.
In Marlboro, parents may opt to enroll their children in a complement program, said Superintendent of Schools Eric Hibbs. Although members of the township’s school board and administration will consider an across-the-board, full-day kindergarten initiative, the complement program works well, he said.
“It does dive in deeper. It complements exactly what we do,” Hibbs added. “There is extra time for writing, reading and subjects of that nature.”
That didn’t fly for Oberkehr and his team, though, due to the students who did not sign up for the complement courses, he said. The disconnect did not allow administrators to inject additional materials into the curriculum, Oberkehr said.
But cash is a decisive factor in the push to create full-day programs. Many districts must tackle the obstacles — more salaries and benefits for teachers, as well as capital improvements and supplies —without additional state aid, said Frank Belluscio, deputy executive director of the New Jersey School Boards Association.
“It’s an expensive proposition. If the district doesn’t have the resources and the state doesn’t provide support, it’s difficult,” Belluscio said. “Middle-income districts that don’t receive as much state aid might find that footing the bill for it is especially difficult.”
That means that school property taxes would act as the economic engine behind the full-day kindergarten program. With budgetaryconstraintsanda2percentcap on tax levy increases in place, that could deter some school boards from making the leap, Hibbs said.
If the state eventually requires districts to offer full-day courses without financial backing from Trenton, the move would prove to be one of many unfunded mandates, Hibbs said.
“Full-day kindergarten is a wonderful thing, but if it’s mandated and districts aren’t given any help, then you have to unfortunately look to see where else you can allocate that money from, because it has to come from somewhere,” Hibbs said.
Cittadino previously worked in a low-income school district that raked in a nice haul of state funds for its preschool and kindergarten programs, he said. The money made it easier to execute a more rigorous curriculum for youngsters.
According to DOE spokesman Richard Vespucci, until three years ago New Jersey funded all kindergarten students at half the per-pupil state-aid figure that is used for students in grades one and up. The state now funds kindergartners at the full rate, whether the program is full day or half day, so more money is available to districts.
Aside from the weight of the dollar, school board members and administrators must analyze the issue from all angles, Hibbs said.
“I don’t think anything is ever as simple as cash flow. I look at a problem and we really take it apart,” Hibbs said. “In order for us to even consider cash flow, we would have already gotten to the point to say this is something that is worth doing for Marlboro. We must really consider what’s best for the student.”