All Day Kindergarten

Improved Essays
When compared to Finland or China, America’s educational performance is suffering (Kenny, 2012). For future careers, math and reading are essentials, and without them other countries are given the opportunity to move ahead of Americans. Although, many Americans often times blame low grades and standards on teachers and administrators, they fail to consider the amount of time that children put into their early education. Ohio must require an all-day kindergarten program for all public elementary schools amongst Ohio.
All-day kindergarten should be a public policy solution because kids in all-day kindergarten receive long-term academic benefits, and it allows children to advance themselves in both math and reading. The government must take action because allowing students to learn and study math and reading at an earlier age can help with a district’s performance. Public school districts (often urban schools) consist of low standards, which leads to a low overall grade for a school district. With more time in the classroom at a younger age, it will allow children the ability to advance themselves in kindergarten, and to be able to continue to advance themselves in the 1st grade and their future academic career. In order, to move to an all-day kindergarten program, it is imperative to examine the problem, solution, benefits, drawbacks, disagreements, alternative solutions, and the implementation of this policy. Early childhood education is important for a child’s performance and their further studies. However, children are forced to start first-grade at different levels. Children that are in half-day kindergarten programs are provided with less social and academic opportunities than children that are provided with an all-day kindergarten program. According to Grace Chen, an expert educational researcher, “‘Children in the school’s half-day kindergarten made an average gain of 5.4 months during a 9 month period, while children in the full-day classes made a 16 month gain on average.’ Remarkably, students in a full-day program were able to function with abilities almost 50 percent greater than that of their half-day peers” (Chen, 2006). With districts deciding to go forward with all-day kindergarten programs it causes other children, whose district is against all-day kindergarten, to fall further behind when entering the first grade. Also, many all-day kindergarten programs in public school districts, such as New Albany City Schools, are making parents pay to have their kids in an all-day kindergarten program. However, what about those children whose parents are incapable of paying for all-day kindergarten? As a result of this predicament, children will then start first grade on a different “playing ground” then kids who went through all-day kindergarten and gained better reading, math, and social skills than those who would have attended half-day kindergarten. The question is how can we innovate and expand early childhood education in Ohio? In order, to both better and expand early childhood education, it is necessary to provide all kindergarteners and their parents with the option to attend free all-day kindergarten in the State of Ohio. This problem must be handled by the government (Ohio Department of Education) because it is important to provide all citizens with the opportunity to have a good start to their education. All-day kindergarten is mostly offered in private schools, causing parents to fork over their paychecks to pay for their children to have an all-day kindergarten experience. In addition, parents who have to work a normal workday schedule must pay for all-day kindergarten (if school district does not offer it), since they are unable to pick their children up from a standard half-day kindergarten program.
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Although, children in Ohio go to kindergarten, those in half-day kindergarten have fewer benefits than those in all-day kindergarten. Children in all-day kindergarten receive long-term academic achievements, higher reading scores in the early grades, more time spent in free play, access to a nutritious breakfast and lunch, and a greater progression in social skills for the disadvantaged and low income children (NASP, 2004). In contrast, children in half-day kindergarten have more parent involvement (dependent on the child’s parents) and provides a better assistance to children that have shorter attention spans (NASP, 2004). The case and proof that all-day kindergarten programs are more beneficial is stronger and more powerful than that of half-day kindergarten

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