Comparison of Half- and Full-Day Kindergarten on Kindergarten Achievement

Jack B. Monpas-Huber, Ph.D.Director of Assessment and Student Information

About this Study

The purpose of these analyses is to examine the effect of All Day kindergarten on the achievement of Shoreline kindergarten students. This requires two conditions:

• A longitudinal analysis of the same students over period of time• A continuous measure of achievement to provide a consistent yardstick

for measuring growth throughout the year

In Shoreline, the only districtwide measure of kindergarten student achievement is the DIBELS literacy measures, and the most recent longitudinal data is from last school year, 2008-09. This study therefore compares the achievement of 2008-09 Half Day and All Day kindergarten students on the DIBELS measures.

Results are presented in two ways:• Gains in mean performance across benchmark windows• Regression analyses of DIBELS outcome measures on predictor

measures of All Day kindergarten participation, demographic variables (lunch, gender, English speaking), and interactions between All Day K and the demographic variables

DIBELS Kindergarten Literacy Measures

Effect of All-Day Kindergarten on LiteracyDIBELS – Initial Sound Fluency

Winter benchmark score

Means

Both Half Day and All Day students gained. All Day students gained at a slightly faster rate than Half Day students.

Effect of All-Day Kindergarten on LiteracyDIBELS – Letter Naming Fluency

SHORELINE PUBLIC SCHOOLSComparison of Half Day and All Day Kindergarten Programs

2008-09 Kindergarten Cohort -- DIBELS Letter Naming Fluency

20.4

35.6

45.0

25.3

43.3

51.8

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55

Fall Winter Spring

Benchmark Testing Period

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Half Day (N=207)

All Day (N=215)

Fall benchmark score

Winter benchmark score

Spring benchmark score

Effect of All-Day Kindergarten on LiteracyDIBELS – Phoneme Segmentation Fluency

Winter benchmark score

Spring benchmark score

Effect of All-Day Kindergarten on LiteracyDIBELS – Nonsense Word Fluency

Winter benchmark score

Spring benchmark score

Effect of All-Day Kindergarten on LiteracyDIBELS – Initial Sound Fluency

What predicts the winter ISF score? Presented here is regression of winter ISF on fall ISF and other predictor variables including All Day K. The purpose is to gather evidence of the net impact of All Day K on literacy achievement controlling for other demographic variables which also influence student achievement. The only significant predictors are the Fall ISF score and gender. Students score an average of .72 points higher on the Winter Assessment, and boys, on average, score 4.4 points lower than girls on the winter ISF measure, accounting for All Day K, family income status, and language of origin. All Day K students do not score significantly different than Half Day students.

Effect of All-Day Kindergarten on LiteracyDIBELS – Letter Naming Fluency

Linear Regression

***Output Created with Excel Data Analysis Toolpak***

63 cases were removed due to missing data

Regression StatisticsMultiple R .842R Square .709Adjusted R Square .702Standard Error 9.833Observations 422.000

ANOVA

df SS MS F Significance FRegression 9.000 96892.842 10765.871 111.351 .000Residual 412.000 39833.973 96.684Total 421.000 136726.815

Coefficients Standard Error t Stat P-value Lower 95% Upper 95% Lower 95.0% Upper 95.0%Intercept 17.182 1.512 11.368 .000 14.211 20.154 14.211 20.154LNF_K_Beginning .075 .047 1.609 .108 -.017 .167 -.017 .167LNF_K_Middle .755 .042 18.078 .000 .673 .837 .673 .837D_ADK .539 1.483 .363 .716 -2.376 3.455 -2.376 3.455D_ADK*Lunch -4.502 2.675 -1.683 .093 -9.760 .756 -9.760 .756D_ADK*Male .039 1.927 .020 .984 -3.749 3.828 -3.749 3.828D_ADK*Nenglish 6.808 2.700 2.522 .012 1.501 12.114 1.501 12.114D_Lunch 2.219 1.640 1.353 .177 -1.005 5.443 -1.005 5.443D_Male -1.594 1.371 -1.163 .245 -4.289 1.100 -4.289 1.100D_Nenglish -1.897 1.754 -1.082 .280 -5.346 1.551 -5.346 1.551

A regression of Spring Letter Naming Fluency scores on the fall and winter scores, All Day K, demographics, and their interactions. The only significant predictors are the winter LNF score and the interaction between All Day K and Non-English. The results suggest that Non-English speakers who were in All Day K scored, on average, 6.8 points higher on the Spring LNF measure than all other students.

Effect of All-Day Kindergarten on LiteracyDIBELS – Letter Naming Fluency

SHORELINE PUBLIC SCHOOLSComparison of Half Day and Full Day Kindergarten Programs

2008-09 Kindergarten Cohort -- DIBELS Letter Naming Fluency

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Fall Winter Spring

Benchmark Testing Window

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Half Day K English-speaking (N=162)

Half Day K Non-English speaking (N=45)

All Day K English-speaking (N=188)

All Day K Non-English speaking (N=27)

All K (N=422)

Effect of All-Day Kindergarten on LiteracyDIBELS – Phoneme Segmentation Fluency

Linear Regression

***Output Created with Excel Data Analysis Toolpak***

45 cases were removed due to missing data

Regression StatisticsMultiple R .670R Square .448Adjusted R Square .438Standard Error 11.310Observations 431.000

ANOVA

df SS MS F Significance FRegression 8.000 43866.095 5483.262 42.867 .000Residual 422.000 53979.311 127.913Total 430.000 97845.406

Coefficients Standard Error t Stat P-value Lower 95% Upper 95% Lower 95.0% Upper 95.0%Intercept 25.320 1.681 15.060 .000 22.016 28.625 22.016 28.625PSF_K_Middle .610 .039 15.766 .000 .534 .686 .534 .686D_ADK .874 1.673 .522 .602 -2.415 4.164 -2.415 4.164D_ADK*Lunch -3.391 2.947 -1.151 .251 -9.183 2.402 -9.183 2.402D_ADK*Male 2.729 2.184 1.249 .212 -1.565 7.023 -1.565 7.023D_ADK*Nenglish 3.052 3.027 1.008 .314 -2.899 9.002 -2.899 9.002D_Lunch 1.275 1.904 .670 .503 -2.467 5.017 -2.467 5.017D_Male -2.790 1.571 -1.775 .077 -5.878 .299 -5.878 .299D_Nenglish -2.609 2.039 -1.280 .201 -6.617 1.399 -6.617 1.399

Regression of Spring PSF score on Winter PSF, All Day K, demographics, and interaction terms. The only significant predictor is Winter PSF score. Participation in All Day K, or membership in any particular demographic group, does not significantly improve prediction of the Spring PSF score over the mean.

Effect of All-Day Kindergarten on LiteracyDIBELS – Nonsense Word Fluency

Linear Regression

***Output Created with Excel Data Analysis Toolpak***

23 cases were removed due to missing data

Regression StatisticsMultiple R .805R Square .648Adjusted R Square .641Standard Error 16.392Observations 426.000

ANOVA

df SS MS F Significance FRegression 8.000 206311.198 25788.900 95.980 .000Residual 417.000 112043.384 268.689Total 425.000 318354.582

Coefficients Standard Error t Stat P-value Lower 95% Upper 95% Lower 95.0% Upper 95.0%Intercept 15.816 1.999 7.911 .000 11.886 19.746 11.886 19.746NWF-CLS_K_Middle .843 .033 25.819 .000 .779 .907 .779 .907D_ADK 1.871 2.442 .766 .444 -2.928 6.670 -2.928 6.670D_ADK*Lunch -10.268 4.300 -2.388 .017 -18.719 -1.816 -18.719 -1.816D_ADK*Male 4.068 3.189 1.276 .203 -2.200 10.336 -2.200 10.336D_ADK*Nenglish 2.812 4.417 .637 .525 -5.871 11.495 -5.871 11.495D_Lunch .817 2.727 .299 .765 -4.544 6.177 -4.544 6.177D_Male -1.507 2.273 -.663 .508 -5.975 2.961 -5.975 2.961D_Nenglish 1.457 2.919 .499 .618 -4.281 7.195 -4.281 7.195

Regression of Spring NWF score on Winter NWF, All Day K, demographics, and interaction terms. The interaction between All Day K and lunch service is significant, suggesting that low income students in All Day K scored, on average, 10 points lower than all other students.

Effect of All-Day Kindergarten on LiteracyDIBELS – Nonsense Word Fluency

SHORELINE PUBLIC SCHOOLSComparison of Half Day and All Day Kindergarten Programs

2008-09 Kindergarten Cohort -- DIBELS Nonsense Word

26.8

37.9

19.0

32.535.1

49.1

18.0

26.028.9

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Benchmark Testing Period

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Half Day K Other Income(N=154) 26.8 37.9

Half Day K Low Income(N=55) 19.0 32.5

All Day K Other Income(N=188) 35.1 49.1

All Day K Low Income(N=29) 18.0 26.0

All K (N=426) 28.9 41.3

Winter Spring