Mekhi Rutherford visits Ellen Fairclough Public School to meet his teachers and see the classroom where he will be attending the full day senior kindergarten class this year, August 31, 2010, Whitchurch-Stouffville, Ont.Anne-Marie Jackson/The Globe and Mail
As much of the country goes ahead with full-day kindergarten, Canadians should ask what benefits will be worth the billions of dollars to be spent on it. British Columbia and Prince Edward Island are jumping in with both feet, Ontario with one (the other one will surely follow). Quebec and Nova Scotia already have it. Given the size of the expenditure, and the many unfulfilled needs of the schools, provinces that double the school-day for five-year-olds (and in some cases four-year-olds) should be prepared to undertake rigorous studies of the developmental benefits.
The proponents of full-day kindergarten are making far-reaching claims for it as an educational and developmental tool. They may be right. But they have not offered much evidence.
Consider a new study from the Centre for Spatial Economics in Ontario, commissioned by the Atkinson Charitable Foundation. It claims a long-term benefit of $2.40 for every dollar invested in an ambitious program of full-day kindergarten, followed by afternoon and summertime programs. Behold the references: There isn't a single study of full-day kindergarten cited. The authors' case leans heavily on the economic benefit of expanded child care, in helping mothers go out to paid work.
Or consider the benefits set out by education bureaucrat (and former Atkinson foundation head) Charles Pascal, when Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty asked him how to set up full-day kindergarten: Higher literacy and numeracy scores, lower dropout rates, higher postsecondary enrolment and stronger emotional resiliency. His direct evidence from existing programs of full-day kindergarten: one study on the effect (over the short term) of a program in one French-language school board in Ontario. It found vocabulary gains, but not gains in social skills.
It is difficult to amass direct evidence in the absence of such programs. We do know that Nova Scotia students have not set the world on fire in cross-country literacy tests.
There is so much else in education that needs attention. Remedial and special-needs programs are perennially starved for cash. Postsecondary schools could use more money, too. All young people who are qualified academically to attend postsecondary school should be able to attend, even if they can't afford the tuition. Canada does have an opportunity to learn whether the benefits of full-day kindergarten seen in disadvantaged children will accrue to all children. That opportunity comes at a price. In Ontario alone, by 2015, the cost will be $1.5-billion a year.
Canadians will need to be convinced that universal, full-day kindergarten is worth the expense. Other provinces will be watching the rollout of full-day kindergarten with interest. This country should be able to determine - with independent studies - whether it provided a bang for the billions.