All-Day Kindergarten Report

FALL 2017 ALL-DAY KINDERGARTEN REPORT

Consultant Dr. Steve Cordogan presented a summary of comparable districts, what the programs look like and the challenges they encountered in implementing All Day Kindergarten (ADK). Of Illinois’ 800+ school districts, 12 are distinctly higher performing – of which 9 are in the western suburbs, including Elmhurst D205. Districts he surveyed included: Barrington 220, Batavia 101, Geneva 304, Indian Prairie 204, Lake Zurich 95, Naperville 203, St. Charles 303 and Wheaton 200.

All but one of the comparable districts do have ADK and that district offers a paid enrichment program run by their park district. All districts have all day kindergarten for students identified as academically at-risk or ELL, including Elmhurst. All programs were begun in the last 11 years and most in the last nine years. Four districts charge no additional fee, while three charge an additional fee ranging from $2,000 to $4000, which does affect enrollment.

Findings from the spring survey of 500 parents registering their children for kindergarten this year:

If all-day kindergarten was an option, would you have elected to enroll your child?

• 35.1% yes, if at no additional cost
• 52.5% yes, even with additional cost
• 12.4% had no interest

If all-day kindergarten were an option:

• 4.4% would participate at a central location
• 48.4% would participate at a central location, but prefer it at home school
• 47.2% would participate only at home school

Dr. Cordogan noted that the biggest hurdles to implementing all-day kindergarten would be curricular challenges, facilities and the question of tuition versus making this part of the District’s budget.

Superintendent Dr. David Moyer added that half-day kindergarten would still be an option, should District 205 decide to implement this in years to come. Currently, the District does not have the capacity to offer all-day kindergarten at all of its elementary schools. This will need to be considered in the Facility Master Plan discussion that is underway as part of Focus 205 Phase 2.