All-day kindergarten expands

Money for all-day kindergarten is a hot ticket statewide, with one district planning to offer the extra half day of instruction to six times as many children next fall.

"I think it's the most marvelous thing I've been able to be involved in in the schools, to watch this profound improvement in a select number of kids," said Rob Averett, director of elementary school services and Title I federal funds in Granite School District. "They're so (far) ahead of their peers. ... It's heartening."

About 150 Granite District kindergartners in six schools are in an all-day kindergarten pilot program. Next year, with $1.2 million from the state, 900 youngsters in 23 schools will have the additional instruction. Yet even that might not meet demand.

The money comes from SB49, which gave a $30 million one-time infusion for optional, extended day-kindergarten, which can be offered in a full school day or summer programs. The state will divvy $7.5 million a year over four years. Program results will be reported annually.

All districts will get a $22,600 base, plus money for students qualifying for free lunch — a common indicator of poverty. Granite is getting the most, with 18.2 percent of the largess, followed by Salt Lake City's $732,000, Jordan's $644,000, Davis' $564,000, Alpine's $470,000 and Ogden's $454,000, the State Office of Education reports.

Full-day kindergarten has been shown to help low-income students and those with limited English proficiency. A Brigham Young University study found full-day kindergartners at Jordan District's Midvale Elementary made greater gains in literacy than students in half-day programs. Granite District found that by midyear, full-day programs had nearly one-third more established readers, all children meeting or exceeding math expectations and less student mobility.

Box Elder and Salt Lake City school districts, which have offered the programs for years, have reported similar findings.

"It's actually one of the most effective ways to close the achievement gap," said Jason Olsen, spokesman for Salt Lake District, which offers full-day kindergarten at nearly all elementaries. Students scoring in the lowest quartile on tests start out academically behind peers, but by spring, that scoring gap is gone — and stays gone in first-graders the district has tracked, Olsen said.

Fifteen Utah school districts last year offered full-day kindergarten, mostly by stretching federal Title I dollars for low-income schools. They welcome the new state money.