Transcript 2003 Public Opinion Survey on Education in Indiana

The Effects of Full Day Versus
Half Day Kindergarten
Presented to the Alpha Chapter of Phi Delta Kappa
April 28, 2004
Jonathan A. Plucker
Director
Center for Evaluation
& Education Policy
Overview
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CEEP
National Context
IAPSS Study
Public Opinion Poll
IAPSS Study Follow-up
Future Activities
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CEEP
Center for Evaluation and
Education Policy (CEEP)
• Resulted from the merger of the:
– Indiana Education Policy Center (IEPC)
– Indiana Center for Evaluation (ICE)
• Mission is to provide nonpartisan research
support to Indiana policymakers as they
craft education policy
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National FDK Context
National Context
• State kindergarten policies vary widely.
• In 2003-2004, 40 states required public
districts to offer kindergarten.
• Of which 10 required districts to offer full
day programs.
• Only WV and LA mandate FDK attendance.
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National Enrollment (ECLS, 2002)
• Ranges from 83% in southern states to 23% in
western states.
• Rural and urban students more likely to attend
FDK than suburban students.
• African American (79%), white (49%), Hispanic
(46%), Asian (40%)
• poverty (62%) vs. non-poverty (51%).
• Of schools studied in ECLS, 70% private schools
vs. 54% public schools.
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Indiana FDK Enrollment
• 12% in 1999
• Estimates vary for more recent years, but
current rate is probably 15-25%.
• Elimination of FDK in Evansville may not
be factored into those estimates.
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IAPSS Study
Released January 9, 2004
Prepared with Jessica Eaton, Kelly Rapp, Woong
Lim, Jeff Nowak, John Hansen, and Amy Bartleson
Need for the Research
• Contracted by Indiana Association of Public
School Superintendents to conduct study.
– Legislators questioned lack of Indiana data
during previous FDK debates
• What are the effects of FDK through the
early elementary years?
• Provide information in forms useful to
policymakers
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Interesting Complications
• Early childhood research is tricky.
• Methodologies vary widely.
• Study designs range from anecdotal to
quasi-experiments to meta-analysis
• Getting data from schools is difficult
– Many don’t know what they have
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Methodology
• Section I: Review of National Studies
– Review of published studies
• Section II: Indiana Studies
– Both existing and new data
• Section III: Time in IN FDK Classrooms
– Document analysis and classroom observations
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Section I: Review of
National Research
• Single-program studies are highly mixed.
• Larger-scale studies are generally positive,
often quite positive.
• Emphasis on national studies (1), metaanalyses (2, sort of), and larger, multi-site
studies (several)
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National Results
• Data are inconclusive regarding attendance.
• Positive FDK effects for:
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academic achievement
grade retention
special education referrals
social and behavioral effects
• The magnitude of these benefits is inconclusive.
• No negative outcomes associated with FDK.
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Reducing the Achievement Gap
• Greater positive outcomes for low achieving
student subgroups.
• Students more likely to benefit from FDK in
smaller class sizes (< 25 students) and
presence of an instructional aide.
• Magnitude of effects is again inconclusive.
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Section II: Indiana Data
• Data had to be available for FDK students and a
control group of students (usually half day
students in the same district or school).
• Programs needed to be daily programs, not full
day–alternate day programs.
• Extended day programs could not be included
unless substantive instruction occurred during the
extended day (i.e., not HDK plus child care).
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• Indiana studies reflect national findings:
– No negative outcomes associated with FDK
– At worst, FDK and HDK have similar effects.
– Significant results in support of the benefits of full day
over half day kindergarten were found in many of the
comparisons within these studies.
– FDK benefits in academic achievement, grade level
retention, special education referrals, and social and
behavioral effects.
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Section III: Curriculum
and Schedule Analyses
• Collected typical daily schedules from public
school districts in Indiana (self-report).
• Calculated minutes of instruction per day for the
following areas:
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Language arts (English, writing, reading)
Mathematics
Other instruction
Play time
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Amount of Instructional Time
• FDK programs devote significantly more time to
each type of activity than do HDK programs.
• FDK allows for approx. additional 428 hours of
instruction over the course of a school year.
• However, a slightly higher proportion of time is
devoted to instruction in HDK programs
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School Site Visits
• Visited 14 classrooms in six schools with
full-day kindergarten schedules.
• Schools located in urban, suburban and
rural districts across Indiana.
• Observed instructional activities throughout
the day.
• Visits provided evidence of schedule
validity.
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Use of Instructional Time
• Added time in FDK programs changes the
nature of activities that occur.
• Teachers have more time to address state
standards and students’ diverse learning
needs.
• Additional instructional time spent in the
areas of Language Arts and Math.
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Public Opinion Survey Findings
Regarding Kindergarten
Released January 26, 2004
Prepared with the assistance of Molly Chamberlin,
Jason Zapf, and Ada Simmons
Need for a Survey
• No comprehensive, nonpartisan survey of
public opinion on Indiana education issues
in recent memory
• Policymakers in other states find such
surveys to be very helpful
• CEEP chose to self-fund such a survey over
three years: 2003, 2004, 2005
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Telephone Survey
• Conducted in late fall 2003
• 1,001 residents of Indiana, all 18+ years old
• Random Digit Dialing (RDD)
– Includes both listed and unlisted numbers
• Minimum and maximum quotas for county,
age, and gender to ensure a representative
sample on these variables
• Data collection by Stone Research Services
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Survey Statistics
• Ratio of initial refusals to completed
interviews is 2.3:1, lower than average for
RDD samples.
• Overall sampling error of +/- 3%
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Item Creation
• Items drawn from:
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Surveys in other states
National surveys
Issues being discussed by Indiana policymakers
Anticipated “hot topics” in Indiana
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Item Revision
• Each question was reviewed by:
– Several project staff
– Indiana policymakers representing a breadth of
perspectives and ideologies
– Stone Research Services
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Full-day or Half-Day
Kindergarten?
• Poll conducted before
FDK became hot button
issue
50%
45%
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
– 46% FD v. 47% HD
• Subsequent Indy Star poll
found greater support:
56% vs. 36%
Full-day
Half-day
– 704 people, +/- 3.7%
– Asked about optional FDK
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Indy Star 1/04 Poll Question
• Gov. Kernan recently announced a plan
for the state to pay for optional full-day
kindergarten for all Indiana public
schools. Currently, this is not available
in all schools, and some schools that do
have this program require parents to
pay for it. Do you favor or oppose the
governor's initiative?
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Favor Mandatory Kindergarten?
• Participants informed
that 90-94% of children
attend kindergarten in
Indiana
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
• 81% Favor
• 18% Oppose
Favor
Oppose
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Follow-up to IAPSS Study
Long-term Effects of FDK
• We were asked by IAPSS to look only at
short-term impact on achievement.
– NOT long-term, no fiscal analysis
• We are conducting a brief follow-up review
of longitudinal research.
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• Although methodological issues exist,
initial results suggest FDK gains extend
through middle and high school, with
considerable, positive fiscal impact
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Conclusions
Research Favors FDK
• Sufficient evidence exists to justify a move
to full day kindergarten in Indiana.
• Positive outcomes are associated with FDK
relative to HDK on wide range of important
indicators
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?
• Although some find our conclusions to be
surprising, they aren’t:
– Why would we expect an extra half year of
education at a critical age to have no effect?
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More Research Needed
• A great deal of research is needed,
especially in the areas of:
– State/national outcome studies (ACH and $)
– Experimental studies at the local level
– Implementation studies
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First Steps?
• Avoid alternate day programs; a better
partial strategy is to target low income
students who stand to gain the most from
full day-every day programs.
• Indiana policymakers may want to explore
ways to get 100% of children into preschool
and kindergarten experiences.
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Closing
Distribution List
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a new PDF file on the CEEP web site.
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