Full-Day Kindergarten

NEA recognizes that full-day kindergarten programs close achievement gaps between young children from minority and low-income families and their peers. By providing a solid foundation of learning to children from all backgrounds, full-day kindergarten programs ensure all students' academic, social, and emotional success.

NEA created Full-Day Kindergarten: An Advocacy Guide ( PDF, 957KB, 52 pp.) to support its members in their full-day kindergarten advocacy efforts. Association leaders and members with advocacy expertise helped determine the tools, strategies and overall content of the guide. It contains research, policy recommendations, sample legislation, talking points and lessons from other states that have successfully enacted full-day kindergarten legislation. NEA leaders, members, and staff--as well as other parents and community advocates--can use the guide to gather the information they will need to provide quality full-day kindergarten programs to young learners in their states.

NEA's commitment to this work did not end with the advocacy guide. In March 2007, the Educational Policy and Practice Department hosted a Webcast to provide members with additional information and tools:

• PowerPoint presentation ( PowerPoint, 929KB, 25 slides) walks through key research about the benefits of full-day kindergarten. It also outlines the strategies and policy recommendations included in the guide.
• Letter to the editor ( PDF, 27KB, 1 p.) is a model that can be used by teachers, parents and other advocates.
• Kindergarten facts ( PDF, 73KB, 2 pp.) can be used to help others understand the importance of full-day kindergarten programs.
• Policy recommendations ( PDF, 36KB, 2 pp.) can be given to state-level leaders to ensure full-day kindergarten legislation provides the best possible programs to young learners.
• State policies ( PDF, 143KB, 19 pp.) show where states are on full-day kindergarten relative to the policy recommendations above, and can be used to make state comparisons. Source: http://www.ecs.org/