Full-Day Kindergarten and Early Literacy Growth (Poster 7)

• In Event: Thursday Poster Session 4:20 pm
  In Poster Session: Early Education and Child Development: Poster Session 1

Abstract

Despite the growing movement to adopt full-day kindergarten (FDK) programming, the accessibility of FDK remains limited in many states. Research on both short-term and long-term benefits of FDK are mixed. The present study explores the association between the kindergarten program type (e.g., half-day vs. full-day kindergarten) and reading performance during kindergarten and later in the elementary grades. We focus on three cohorts of Utah students who started kindergarten in the school years between 2015-2016 and 2017-2018 and tracked their progress from kindergarten to third grade. Using both student-level and school-level data, we relied on propensity score matching and multi-level mixed models to estimate the influence of attending FDK on student achievement for children from different demographic backgrounds in Utah.

Authors

• Yongmei Ni, University of Utah

• Andrea K. Rorrer, University of Utah

• Bill Altermatt, University of Utah