EDITORIAL

Move toward universal all-day K is right for RI

Posted 7/14/15

In today’s increasingly connected and competitive world, our children need – and deserve – access to every possible resource and opportunity that will position them for future …

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EDITORIAL

Move toward universal all-day K is right for RI

Posted

In today’s increasingly connected and competitive world, our children need – and deserve – access to every possible resource and opportunity that will position them for future success.

All-day kindergarten has broadly been accepted as a vital component of education with a range of benefits. Yet in Rhode Island, up to this year, seven districts – including Warwick, Cranston and Johnston – have remained without all-day K.

Now, that appears set to change. The $8.7-billion state budget for the coming year, recently approved by lawmakers and signed into law by Gov. Gina Raimondo, includes $1.4 million to help extend all-day K to the districts still without it. There is also a mandate that the process of instituting universal all-day K be completed by the 2016-17 school year.

State Sen. Hanna Gallo of Cranston has been widely credited for her commitment to securing funding for all-day K, and we also applaud her efforts. We also congratulate state Rep. Stephen Ucci of Johnston, who sponsored the measure in the House.

Both legislators have made a strong case for all-day K.

“We need to ensure that all students – regardless of where they live – have access to the benefits of full-day kindergarten. It boosts cognitive and academic achievement, as well as social and emotional growth,” Gallo said. “It helps to close achievement gaps between the highest and lowest performing students in reading and math. Full-day kindergarten is particularly beneficial for second language learners.”

“I believe full-day kindergarten better prepares children for elementary school because it gives them the time they need to settle into the rhythms of school and, obviously, provides much more time for instruction,” Ucci said. “Many kindergartners need more than a half-day program to prepare academically, socially and emotionally for elementary school; and the full-day program can prevent them from falling behind and needing expensive remedial help or repeating a grade.”

Warwick is set to run 14 all-day K classrooms this fall, while Cranston has planned for four. Johnston had included funding to begin the program in its budget following the efforts of municipal and school leaders.

State leaders have focused on all-day K, and other educational issues, as a key part of the broader vision for Rhode Island’s economic revival. Given that education and innovation are, today, more important than ever to the future prosperity of our communities, we strongly agree with that focus.

Fully realizing the vision of all-day K across Rhode Island will, of course, require a continued financial commitment on the part of our leaders. Given the stakes, and the important first step this year’s budget represents, we are confident they will see the process through.

Comments

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  • Justanidiot

    Kids need to learn at an early age that society just wants to warehouse them until they are 18. Better to start in kindergarten than wait until later.

    Tuesday, July 14, 2015 Report this

  • JohnStark

    There is virtually no evidence that all-day kindergarten has long-term positive effects when study groups are controlled for intelligence. That is, kids who are already smart tend to attend all-day kindergarten in higher proportions than less intelligent kids. Later, achievement differences are attributed to the all-day kindergarten attendance, instead of the fact many attendees were smarter in the first place. When controlling for intelligence, any "gains" attributed to all-day kindergarten evaporate by the third grade, and in some cases by first grade, and do so with stubborn consistency.

    All-day kindergarten is, however, a tremendous benefit to four groups. First, it benefits parents who don't have to negotiate a half-day program around job responsibilities. Second, it benefits teachers unions, whose numbers swell with newly hired teachers. Third, education (but never economic) researchers benefit by the endless and elusive search for the mythical "benefits" of all-day kindergarten. Finally, politicians, such as Sen. Gallo and Rep. Ucci benefit by taking credit for a program that, like Head Start, sounds good when you say it fast, yet yields no measurable academic benefits.

    Thursday, July 16, 2015 Report this

  • davebarry109

    I could not have said it better than the entry above by John Stark. All day K is just a babysitting program. Next it will be universal pre-K. Pretty soon, parents won't have to raise their children at all. The public schools are a sewer and we are immersing our children into it earlier and earlier.

    Thursday, July 16, 2015 Report this

  • Notbornyesterday

    The above two clowns obviously have no kids in the school system....

    Friday, July 17, 2015 Report this

  • JohnStark

    Notborn: Since there were three posts prior to your's, I'm not sure who the "two clowns" were. However, if I understand your point, it is that only those with kids in the school system could appreciate all-day kindergarten. Why? If it is because the schools remove the burden on parents of daily transportation at inconvenient hours, I believe I made that point. But let's not pretend that there are any measurable academic benefits, because there are not. Senator Gallo says: “It (all-day kindergarten) helps to close achievement gaps between the highest and lowest performing students in reading and math." If this is so, why is the "gap" expanding in the very same communities where all-day K already exists? The fact is, all-day K sounds good, compassionate, and caring. And who could be against that? The only problem is that, like other education fads (see: whole language, open concept, a readiness grade, modern math) it doesn't do what it claims to do. Unless, of course, helping parents negotiate their daily schedules and increasing union numbers are the goals.

    Friday, July 17, 2015 Report this

  • davebarry109

    Notbornyesterday.....A clown I am not. You obviously must be a teacher hack or related to one. I put my kids through private school to avoid the sewer that is the public school system. That was on the advice of several teachers in Warwick public schools, including a principal. They privately told me to do so if I could afford it, acknowledging that only the brightest students could prosper in public schools. If your kid isn't in an AP class, he/she is in with the middle of the pack where there is little discipline and classes are taught to the lowest common denominator.

    Wednesday, July 22, 2015 Report this

  • FASTFREDWARD4

    only thing I know daycare will get hurt, less time for bus driver and aids. more lights heat upgrade. But we all have the money to do it in this state don,t we. watch and see how wonderful it works out. thank you

    Friday, July 24, 2015 Report this

  • FASTFREDWARD4

    only thing I know daycare will get hurt, less time for bus driver and aids. more lights heat upgrade. But we all have the money to do it in this state don,t we. watch and see how wonderful it works out. thank you

    Friday, July 24, 2015 Report this