Issue #4: There has been a misuse of supporting data. This is when a particular piece of data is stated as supporting the full-day Kindergarten option when in fact the data is support for both full-day and half-day Kindergarten or just half-day Kindergarten or something not even relevant to the topic at hand.
- Early Intervention - In the Superintendent’s presentation entitled Proposed Budget for the 2010 – 2011 School Year, dated December 10, 2009, there is a section entitled “Research and Underpinning for Decision-Making” which quotes a finding that “Early Intervention is an excellent investment for society”. There are an additional 6 slides that lead into the “Kindergarten Options” that state early intervention statistics. Clearly half-day Kindergarten is an accepted form of early intervention and – especially as it is implemented at Gilead Hill School – is considered a “good early childhood program.”
As a result, none of these statistics are relevant for determining if Hebron schools should move to a full-day Kindergarten program. - The Perry preschool project appears to be one of the primary motivators for the decision to implement a full-day Kindergarten instead of half-day Kindergarten. It is true that the Perry preschool project is fascinating and produced excellent results (please Google Lifetime Effects: The HighScope Perry Preschool Study Through Age 40 (2005) to learn more), but this project specifically “examines the lives of 123 African Americans born in poverty and at high risk of failing in school.” It also needs to be stated that the Perry project is a PRESCHOOL project, NOT a Kindergarten project.
- The Superintendent’s blog states: “Comprehensive early childhood experiences have lasting benefits, not only in academic achievement, but in behavioral contexts, employment, and other non-cognitive outcomes.” Again, this should be interpreted as an endorsement of a good full-day program OR a good half-day program.
- Class Size – Another major statistical focus in the Proposed Budget presentation is the data supporting smaller class sizes. Smaller class sizes can be achieved in half-day Kindergarten using fewer resources than those needed to have smaller class sizes in full-day Kindergarten making this goal more achievable in half-day Kindergarten. The proximity in the presentation of these statistics to the discussion in favor of full-day Kindergarten is confusing and raises concerns about the thoroughness with which the BOE weighed the reported advantages of the different issues they considered.
This issue #4 could have been much longer, but the weekend is upon us and there were 300+ students participating in the non-judged Science Fair at Hebron Elementary that we had to go check out.
It is highly likely that students who attended half-day Kindergarten produced the vast majority of the fabulous projects one encountered there. They all got T-shirts. They showed off solar technology, chemistry, biology, physics, health, nutrition, (…did you know you can do a DNA analysis of your mixed breed dog and find out what that mutt is really made of?), etc. The fabulous teachers and parents in Hebron can motivate elementary aged kids to delve into complicated areas of science for the reward of a T-shirt…and probably more likely for the reward of learning itself
What problem are we really trying to solve?