Why Liberty Still Believes in the Power of Part-Time Kindergarten
Why Liberty Still Believes in the Power of Part-Time Kindergarten
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Elizabeth Timpe, Board of Directors
Lottery season is upon us. Registrars will begin to draw the kindergarten lottery near the end of this month. Nearly every year, the question is asked by parents, “Which is better, part-time or full-time kindergarten for success at Liberty?” Some might automatically assume full-time kindergarten is “better” based simply on the amount of time spent at school. This is a complex question with an answer not as simple as one might think.
Throughout our school’s history, the Liberty Common School Founders have championed part-time kindergarten as the best option for children. This understanding is guided by a timeless premise: “It is the right and responsibility of parents to direct the education and upbringing of their children.”
When the school launched in 1997, full-time-kindergarten programs were uncommon, usually tuition-based. The historic European and 20th-Century American intention of kindergarten was predicated upon the philosophy that “children will gain social, emotional, and academic skills through their natural curiosity and enthusiasm to learn.”1
Liberty’s Founders, in their extensive research, observed how a part-time-kindergarten schedule allowed for optimal development of children within their homes, their parents being the most suitable “first educators.” As more women entered the workforce, some parents sought taxpayer-funded childcare and early-childhood education at younger-than-normal ages.
In 2019, the Colorado legislature responded to this countertrend by passing a bill funding full-time kindergarten for public schools. Where fewer than 20% of five-year-olds in the 1970s attended a play-based kindergarten for two to three hours a day, nearly 100% attend a kindergarten program in the 2020s. This represents a huge cultural shift in our state, and others have adopted similar subsidy policies.
The standards have also shifted dramatically when it comes to first-grade readiness since the late 70s (see nearby graphic). Kindergarten is already exceeding what first grade used to be, and the children are younger and still very impressionable.
Studies involving thousands of children, most notably one published in 2008, show any advantages of full-time kindergarten are completely indistinguishable by the start of 3rd grade.2 Many benefits are surpassed within weeks of the start of 1st grade. The result is many students have been pushed harder and faster into full-time programs when they really would have benefited more by extended access to a play-based environment through early childhood.
This research from the wider education community suggests there is no appreciable benefit of part-time vs. full-time kindergarten. When I looked at a cohort of data for our own Liberty community in the last five years, I found the research holds.
Part-time vs. full-time-kindergarten students at LCS showed no statistical distance in their READ ACT scores assessed at the end of kindergarten. Furthermore, no significant difference through third grade occurs based upon the number of kindergarten hours they received.
This suggests Liberty’s fidelity to the Core Knowledge Curriculum is so well delivered by our professional classroom instructors to the effect no student-performance gaps are observed regardless of how long a child attends a kindergarten classroom. Also, of note, at Liberty, no additional content is taught in full-time-kindergarten classes. Full-time students merely receive additional practice time, but of the same content delivered to their part-time peers.
I personally have chosen part-time kindergarten for all three of my own LCS school-aged children. I have loved the parenting/schooling balance. The strategy has worked very well for each of them.
Liberty’s part-time offering afforded a gentler transition into full-day schooling in the first grade while allowing healthy time for breaks and play, and working on reading with them at home.
As a parent volunteer and Member of Liberty’s Board of Directors, I hope this bit of background knowledge for young parents might help others feel confident in their choices in years to come. Given the historic competitiveness of getting into Liberty through the lottery in older grades, kindergarten remains perhaps the best chance many families have to educate their children at our school.
It can also be said that choosing part-time kindergarten can give your child the best of both worlds at home and school. It's why Liberty maintains this wholesome tradition.
1.Lee, V., Burkam, D., Ready, D., Honigman, J., & Meisels, S. (2006). “Full-day versus half-day kindergarten: In which program do children learn more?” American Journal of Education, 112, 163-208.
2. Drzal, et. al. “A Developmental Perspective on Full- Versus Part-Day Kindergarten andChildren’s Academic Trajectories Through Fifth Grade.” Child Development, July/August 2008, Volume 79, Number 4, Pages 957 – 978