All-Day Kindergarten And Cognitive Outcomes Of Racial Minority Students In The US

Abstract

ALL-DAY KINDERGARTEN AND COGNITIVE OUTCOMES OF RACIAL MINORITY STUDENTS IN THE US INTRODUCTION Ever since Margarete Schurz introduced the Froebel kindergarten in the United State in 1856, American k i n d e r g a r t e n s h a v e c o n t i n u a l l y a d a p t e d t o accommodate the changing perspectives on children's developmental needs and the parental economic demands. In early traditional kindergartens, the most beneficial program was identified as the one easing the transition from home to school smoothly. The only tasks that children need to do in traditional kindergartens is to spend 2 1/2 to 3 hours playing and adjusting themselves to a new social setting (Nelson, 2000). Nowadays kindergarten emphasizes academic achievement and school readiness which had been a goal of the first grade's curriculum in the past. Kindergarten children are expected to pay attention to regular academic instructions which cover reading, writing, mathematics, and science structured lessons. The highly-structured, segmented academic daily routines have spread to allday kindergarten in the United States. In all-day kindergarten, students typically stay 5 to 6 hours per day and attend 5 days per week (Rudolph & Cohen, 1984).