A few thousand more kindergartners in Montgomery County will soon be making the leap to mornings and afternoons of ABCs and 1-2-3s.
This year, 30 more schools in the county are expanding their kindergarten classes to full-day, meaning all 123 Montgomery County schools with kindergarten classes have now gotten rid of half-day kindergarten in favor of full-day schedules.
The expansion meets a state requirement mandating that all Maryland elementary schools offer full-day kindergarten by the 2007-08 school year — only it does so a year earlier than anticipated. It’s also part of a 2000 Early Success initiative by Montgomery County schools to reduce class size, better train teachers and come up with a clear curriculum for kindergarten classrooms.
According to Kate Harrison, assistant director of public information for the district, the change is expected to translate into improved learning for the first-time students.
So far, testing has shown significant gains in student performance as a result of the added hours, she said. For example, in 2001, only 38 percent of kindergartners were reading simple text, whereas today 81 percent go to on first-grade reading at their level.
“We’re very pleased at the academic success that these kids have shown,” Harrison said. “It definitely makes for a certain amount of continuity for the students who used to have to go to school and then in some cases go to day care in a different location.”
Nationwide, full-day kindergarten has been a huge trend as well. Data from an extensive 2004 study by the National Center for Education showed that 56 percent of kindergartners attended a full-day program in 1999. The South overwhelmingly was cited as the region with the highest prevalence of full-day kindergarten — 84 percent of public schools.
Schools across the country with the highest concentrations of minority children also offered the largest numbers of full-day kindergarten classes.
Full-Day Kindergarten Additions
» Montgomery Co. schools that will start teaching kindergartners throughout the day this school year are:
» Belmont, Bethesda, Beverly Farms,Bradley Hills, Burtonsville, Carderock Springs, Cashell, Cedar Grove, Clarksburg, College Gardens, Cold Spring, Darnestown, DuFief, Fallsmead, Farmland, Great Seneca Drive, Jones Lane, Lakewood, Little Bennett, Luxmanor, Spark M. Matsunaga, Roscoe R. Nix, Potomac, Sargent Shriver, Seven Locks, Somerset, Westbrook, Wood Acres, Woodfield and Wyngate
