More than costly daycare?
After five years, reviews of Ontario’s full-day kindergarten are mixed
TORONTO — As Ontario’s $1.5-billion experiment with a full-day kindergarten program hits the five-year mark — and Alberta’s new NDP government promises its own rollout — there’s still intense debate on whether the investment has paid off.
Proponents insist they can see a boost in children’s engagement, vocabularies and socialemotional skills. Skeptics insist the new programs are no more than “expensive daycare.” The research, so far, is inconclusive.
A 2012 study, conducted by Brock and Queen’s universities and commissioned by the province, found while Ontario’s fullday kindergarten program was associated with “more positive outcomes,” it was clear some children — particularly in “lowneed schools,” where students come from more privileged backgrounds — appear to have done worse on measures of emotional maturity, communication skills and general knowledge.
“It’s not a tide that lifts all boats,” says Justin Smith, an associate professor of economics at Wilfrid Laurier University who studies academic outcomes and has looked at Ontario’s fullday kindergarten rollout.
“It’s bringing the people up who you want to be brought up, the most vulnerable, but it’s not totally clear the effect it’s having for the least vulnerable people.”
Even the impact on vulnerable students isn’t entirely settled. A 2006 longitudinal study of U.S. full-day kindergarten programs by McMaster University researcher Philip DeCicca found while there were “sizable impacts on academic achievement ... the estimated gains are short-lived, particularly for minority children.” He predicts the same would be true for Ontario kids.
By contrast, an ongoing longitudinal study by the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) — where Charles Pascal, the architect of the full-day kindergarten program, also conducts his research — found the implementation of full-day kindergarten has been “positive” for children, parents and staff.
The latest update on the research reported “professional benefits” for staff — the growing pains of bringing an early childhood educator in with full-day kindergartens — had eased. Parents said they are less stressed and believe their kids are more primed for learning; children are more engaged and show better behaviour regulation.
Interviews with teachers across the province reveal similar enthusiasm. Joanne Pizzuto, a full-day kindergarten teacher at Dr. David Suzuki Public School in Windsor, Ont., calls the universal shift one of “the best things our government (has done)” to support playbased learning, which research has linked to better overall academic and social outcomes into adulthood. But not all teachers heap praise on the program. John Smith, president of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, said recently he had been inundated with calls from teachers complaining about crowded classrooms in the past year, with some saying they were being attacked, grabbed and bitten by students.
The cost is another concern: in 2012, economist Don Drummond made waves by recommending the otherwise excellent program be scrapped because of its “prohibitive costs” over time. So where does that leave Ontario — let alone places like Alberta, still considering full-day kindergarten?
Janette Pelletier, the lead author of the OISE study and a professor of applied psychology and human development in the school’s Dr. Eric Jackman Institute of Child Study, has secured funding to follow the original cohort of 560 students in the Greater Toronto Area through to Grade 6. Results from the Education Quality & Accountability Office tests, conducted in Grade 3 and Grade 6 for elementary students, will soon shed light on the academic impact of full-day kindergarten over time.
“It’s really important to recognize that with any big policy initiative like this, it’s going to take years to really show the effects,” Pelletier said.