Date of Award

6-1995

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Department

Educational Leadership

Abstract

This research project was initiated and designed to gather data on the decision making, implementation, and evaluative processes being used in Michigan schools implementing all-day alternate day kindergarten schedules.

The major issues of concern w ere an assessment of preplanning activities transpiring prior to implementation, staff development preparations, parental involvement in the decision-making process, and evaluative data collected.

Data were collected during the fall of 1994 via a questionnaire sent to 68 Michigan school districts that had implemented an all-day alternate day kindergarten. The same questionnaire was also sent to five Michigan school districts that had implemented the all-day alternate day schedule and subsequently discontinued it.

Analysis of the data revealed the following findings:

1. Potential financial savings provide the impetus for investigation of all-day alternate day schedules.

2. Financial savings range from 0 .5 % to 20 % of transportation budgets.

3. While teachers were always included on preplanning committees, other major stakeholders were often omitted.

4. The most important reason for recommending implementation was for the perceived instructional benefits.

5. Approximately 50 % of implementing districts initiated staff development activities prior to implementation.

6. Staff development needs w ere identified as scheduling for a longer day, providing developmentally appropriate curriculum , and visiting existing all-day alternate day programs.

7. Apprehensions about length of day, inconsistency of alternate days, curriculum development, and staffing patterns almost always dissipate after implementation.

8. Parental involvement w as crucial throughout the decision process.

9. Approximately one third of the districts have collected achievement data that generally reflect other studies that academic achievement is either equal to or higher than students attending half-day schedules.

10. Parental satisfaction is the most persuasive evidence for success of the schedule.

11. Less than 10% of the districts return to a half-day schedule once they have adopted an all-day alternate day schedule.

This study is the only study that has been conducted in Michigan on all-day alternate day kindergartens. It also confirms previous research that indicating such a schedule provides both social and educational advantages for families and children as well as financial savings for school districts.

Access Setting

Dissertation-Open Access

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