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
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
55
Fall Winter Spring
Benchmark Testing Period
Mea
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g F
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core
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
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Fall Winter Spring
Benchmark Testing Window
Mea
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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
41.3
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Benchmark Testing Period
Mea
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Wor
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core
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