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Is there a Down Side to All Day Kindergarten?
Home » Early Learning » All Day Kindergarten » Is there a Down Side to All Day Kindergarten?Posted by Your Guide on March 1, 2006 8:26 PM
Just as there is no one answer about the necessity of all day kindergarten, there can be no one answer about the down side of any all day kindergarten program. The most important factor in determining the quality of a program, no matter what the length of time spent there, is the value of what is being taught, and how well it is taught. The length of time in the program has much less significance than the quality of what is taught.
There are cost considerations that school districts must face. Many schools simply do no have enough rooms to allow them to offer a full day kindergarten program. If they had enough rooms, they would still have to hire additional teachers and staff to handle the education of the children in those programs.
Half day programs allow one teacher to teach two sets of students in one day in one classroom. These programs, they argue, allows for adequate introduction to the classroom setting, especially if those children have been in day care or preschool environments before attending kindergarten.
Educators are also quick to point out that the traditional group learning environment typical of later grades has no place in the kindergarten setting, but that teachers often utilized this teaching method when programs are extended from half to all day kindergarten.
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