Full-Day Kindergarten: One Educator's Change of Heart

By Charles Laurent

What do you do with a 5-year-old, sobbing mess? I can distinctly remember dropping my daughter, Sara, off for her first day of kindergarten several years ago. Up until then, Sara was what my wife and I called, a "preschool journeyman." She had attended at least three different preschools between the ages of 3 and 5. However, these were all half-day programs, and this was our first foray into a full-day program. As a former kindergarten teacher, I was well aware of the ongoing debate between proponents of full-day kindergarten and those who opposed it. Up until the day my daughter started kindergarten, I thought I knew my position on the...