- Shari Shepard
- Posted On
Upper Lake Elementary's full-day kindergarten sees improvement in personal growth of students
UPPER LAKE, Calif. – Principal/Superintendent Valerie Gardner made implementing a full-day kindergarten one of her first priorities when she started her tenure at Upper Lake Union Elementary two years ago.
Most counties within the state of California were already administering all-day kindergartens when Gardner arrived. It was her 24th year working in education.
“I was really surprised when I first came down here that it wasn’t all-day because all-day kindergarten has been around the state for years,” said Gardner.
At Upper Lake Union Elementary, kindergartners used to attend class from about 8 until 11:30 a.m., just before lunch. Now they leave around 2 p.m. with the rest of the students.
While some worry that younger students can’t handle as long of a school day as their older peers, a report provided by the National Education Association says the opposite is true and that these students “do better in a setting that allows them to learn and do activities in depth.”
Gardner agrees. “When we implemented it we saw tremendous growth. I mean kids … had the time to just explore and still be kindergarten students,” she said.
Before that, Upper Lake educators worried that they were introducing too much without allowing them enough time to access the material developmentally.
And, Gardner said, it has nothing to do with improving enrollment and keeping kids in school.
Kindergarten is not required before entry into the first grade. Some argue that the longer school day encourages parents to keep their kids enrolled because picking them up from school in the middle of the day can be challenging.
According to Gardner this isn’t the case at all at Upper Lake.
“I’ve heard that but I haven’t seen it,” she smiled. “I love kindergarten parents because that’s their first year where they’re looking at, ‘What’s the rest of my child’s schooling going to be like?’ They can have really strong opinions.”
However, Gardner added that enrollment has grown since the start of the new day-long program.
At Upper Lake Union Elementary the students have been assessed through observation during what teachers call “Target Time,” where students are grouped together according to reading ability to work together.
Through this assessment Gardner said that she has seen more and more students enter the first grade reading at the level they should be reading.
“They meet their grade level standards,” she said. “It’s absolutely a success.”
Every July, Upper Lake educators evaluate the kindergartners to discover their needs and build a program based on those needs instead of forcing students to conform to a prescribed curriculum.
According to the National Education Association, all-day kindergarten gives teachers more time to identify student needs, gives students a well-structured bridge to first grade, and offers students benefits that are not only intellectual but social and emotional as well.
The National Education Association stated that, “Children in full day kindergarten classes show greater reading and mathematics gains than those in half-day classes.”
Now that more schools with all day kindergartens are showing a marked improvement in the development of their youngest students, Lakeport will soon be following suit.
“We’ve been contemplating it for a few years,” said Lakeport Elementary Principal Anita Swanson. “After seeing how successful they [other schools] were we thought it was time to implement our own.”
Swanson said that there will be some adjustments after using a system that the kindergärtners teachers have grown accustomed to.
Teachers used to assist each other in the mornings and afternoons with their students. Now that all will be teaching from morning until the end of the school day, they will be working with paraeducators instead, she said.
“There was a desire from the parents” for the full-day kindergarten, she said, adding that the additional time students and teachers will have together will be mutually beneficial in the long run.
Come fall all the Lake County schools offering kindergartens will be able to count Lakeport Elementary School among them.
Middletown Unified is currently the only school district not offering an all day program to its students, according to the Lake County Office of Education. However trends suggest that Middletown won't be far behind the others.
“I was really happy to hear that Lakeport’s going to go all day next year too,” said Gardner.
Email Shari Shepard at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .