The U.S. Department of Education is funding an extensive evaluation of full day kindergarten by the Center for Evaluation & Education Policy (CEEP). Full day kindergarten (FDK) is increasingly being used as a strategy to address achievement gaps and promote early learning and school readiness as part of state P-16 initiatives. Although correlational, causal-comparative, and other non-experimental designs appear to support the effectiveness of FDK relative to half-day programs, results from quasi-experimental designs are mixed, probably due to nonequivalence of control and treatment groups. There have been very few experimental designs that utilized random assignment to treatment and control groups or carefully matched samples. Among these studies, most are dated (e.g., Humphrey, 1980), and their results may no longer be generalizable to today’s children. Given the widespread (and increasing) use of FDK and its considerable cost relative to half day kindergarten (HDK), CEEP’s evaluation is timely and is expected to have a considerable impact on early childhood research and policy.

CEEP’s evaluation is a randomized controlled trial comparing the academic development of students who attend full day kindergarten (FDK) classes with those attending half day kindergarten (HDK) classes. In the evaluation plan, CEEP’s practical experience is combined with conducting experimental studies with attention to rigorous standards for conducting both experimental research and complex statistical analyses, such as the What Works Clearinghouse standards for experimental design and standards recommended by the Coalition for Evidence-Based Policy (2002).

Short-Lived Gains or Enduring Benefits: the Long-Term Impact of Full-Day Kindergarten  (Education Policy Brief)

The Effects of Full Day versus Half Day Kindergarten: Review and Analysis of National and Indiana Data