Research into Idaho schools by Bluum shows the impact of more robust early education on students as lawmakers prepare to discuss funding all-day kindergarten during the 2022 legislative session.
Bluum is a non-profit organization that partners with the J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Family Foundation to support education in Idaho. Research for the study was done by Public Impact in North Carolina.
At a media briefing Thursday, Bluum presented data from the 2018-19 academic year to the 2020-21 academic year that shows how students in all-day kindergarten and partial-day kindergarten performed in reading proficiency and how it affected learning through second grade. All-day kindergarten students made more progress than partial-day students, sometimes even in those beginning at a lower proficiency level.
In the fall of 2020, students in all-day kindergarten were in the 46th percentile, then by the spring of 2021 were in the 52 percentile. Partial-day kindergarten students began in the 54th percentile and dropped to the 52 percentile. As students progress to first and second grade, the gap between students who attended all-day kindergarten and partial-day kindergarten closed to a 5-point gap by the end of second grade in 2021. The progress is mostly seen in economically disadvantaged students who begin at a lower average. Those students improved the most, going from the 35th percentile to 43rd for all-day kindergarten.
All-day kindergarten also has other non-academic results such as boosting self-confidence in students and helping with social skills. (Lewiston Tribune)
