BYU study: Children in full-day kindergarten have higher test scores and have nearly as much parent time as peers

A new study by BYU and University of Notre Dame researchers found that there is not a significant loss of parent time when children attend full-day kindergarten compared to children who attend school half days.
On school days, children in full-day kindergarten only spend 57 minutes less with their mothers each day compared to half-day kindergarten peers, according to the study published in July by the Annenberg Institute.
“Sometimes parents say, ‘Having my kid away from home for so long might be harmful to their development because they’re not getting as much focused parent time.’ Our study, in fact, is showing the opposite, which is even when kids are in full-day kindergarten, they are playing with their parents as much. They’re spending as much, one-on-one time with parents. They’re reading with their parents at the same levels,” said Jocelyn Wikle, BYU professor of family life, one of the study’s authors.
Parents of full-day kindergarten kids are still able to have quality time with their kids, she said.
“They’re just doing it at other times of the day, rather than doing it midday,” Wikle said.
Not only is full-day kindergarten a boon to children’s academic achievement, it gives parents opportunities to use their time in other ways that can benefit their families, the study states.
Enrolling full-day kindergarten relieves families of mid-day trips to school to pick up their from half-day classrooms, which gives parents, primarily mothers, more flexibility to work or pursue other family responsibilities.
Full-day kindergarten can also be a form of “subsidized child care,” providing mothers with increased financial opportunities, said the study, titled, “A Matter of Time? Measuring Effects of Public Schooling Expansions on Families’ Constraints.”
“Abundant evidence demonstrates that mothers’ time use and labor force attachment track closely with their children’s ages and schooling trajectories. Existing evidence suggests that public schooling can function as subsidized child care, pointing to the expansion from half to full-day provision as a factor that could affect mothers’ labor force participation,” the study states.
According to the study, men’s labor force is not impacted by whether their child attends full-day kindergarten.
“For most fathers, labor supply appears to be insensitive to the public provision of child care through early childhood education, whereas for mothers, who are more often primary care providers for children, we see sensitivity,” the study states.
To understand the impact of full-day kindergarten on family relationships and time, Wikle, BYU economics professor Riley Wilson and Chloe Gibbs, assistant professor of economics at University of Notre Dame, analyzed nationwide survey data from the Census Bureau, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the national education data.
Earlier research by Gibbs found academic benefits for children assigned to full-day kindergarten classrooms such as a “positive effect on early literacy skills (0.31 standard deviations) when comparing students across treatment conditions within the same school.”
The gains were particularly profound among Hispanic students, Gibbs wrote in a 2023 study titled, “Experimental Evidence on Early Childhood Investment: The Impact of a Longer School Day.”
“In particular, I find that Hispanic students realize large full-day kindergarten effects (0.70 standard deviations), and notably this impact is statistically different than that experienced by students who are not Hispanic,” she wrote.
Gibbs said full-day kindergarten has societal and economic benefits beyond those within families.
Full-day kindergarten instruction can serve the dual purpose of children’s skill development and preparing them for success in school, as well as allowing mothers to make the choice to enter the labor market “should they want to,” she said.
“A more educated citizenry and children who are more prepared for all of the things that come after that and their educational trajectories, obviously produces economic benefits for society. More labor market participation is also good. So to the extent that the policy is activating both of those relevant channels, I think there are economic benefits for us, more broadly, beyond what individual families are experiencing,” Gibbs said.
Utah doesn’t require children to attend kindergarten but now that public schools are required to offer full-day kindergarten, growing numbers of parents are enrolling their children.
The Utah Legislature has insisted that public schools also continue to offer half-day kindergarten classes so that parents have options that best suit their children and their families.
Before the passage of HB477 in 2023, 1 in 3 kindergarteners were involved in a full-day option.
The legislation made full-day kindergarten available for all school districts and public charter schools. The legislation amended state funding formulas related to kindergarten to reflect a full-day length of a kindergarten class. More than 700 kindergarten classrooms were added statewide following the change in the law and funding.
Among Utah’s public charter schools, 40 of 96 schools reported 95% to 100% of kindergarteners opted for full-day instruction in fall 2023, according to the Utah State Board of Education.
Meanwhile, 27 of 41 school districts have reported that 95% to 100% of kindergartners attended full-day kindergarten during the 2023-2024 school year. Enrollment for the current school year will not be available until after the annual Oct. 1 headcount.
So far, the majority of Utah families, when offered full-day kindergarten classes for their children, elect for that option but Wikle said it is important that parents have options.
“The nice thing about full-day kindergarten is that in no state are parents required to use it for their children. States require school districts to provide it, but it’s still a family’s choice about whether they do half-day or full-day,” Wikle said.
She said she hopes school administrators, parents and families will consider the research as a reference point to help them make the right choice for their children and households.