The way Kindergarten operates in our neighborhood schools is something of an anachronism. The two and one half hour sessions come from an age when most children were in two-parent households where only one parent worked outside the home. For most children, this would be their introduction to formal education, and I'm sure folks thought it would be for the best to ease them into it. The serious learning would begin in First Grade.
None of this fits today's reality, so there is no justification for continuing in this manner.
State policy also makes things more difficult for us. (1) Kindergarten is optional and (2) Indiana has the earliest age cut-off in the United States. There are many reasons this should concern us.
Many of our children have the benefit of high quality private preschool (think Early Childhood Development Centers at Notre Dame and St. Mary's). Those children will attend Kindergarten - some may choose to stay where they are. If they do, it will likely be a full day session - just as pre-school was.
On the first day of First Grade these six-year-olds may well be seated next to a seven-year old who is in a formal education setting for the first time. Imagine the task of the teacher, looking upon his/her 25 charges, with this level of disparity.
Universal, full day Kindergarten would give us a chance to even the odds
Next, I'll discuss what recent studies have to tell us about all this. Later, I'll offer some ideas about a possible change in emphasis in Kindergarten curriculum.
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