A study of full-day kindergarten (FDK) was conducted in partnership with Queen's and McMaster universities from 2010-2012.
The purpose of this research was to measure the impact of FDK, and to help identify effective practices to improve the delivery of the program moving forward.
Quantitative and qualitative evaluation methods such as data collection, case studies, phone interviews, online surveys, classroom observation and focus groups were used in schools across the province over the two-year period.
The current quantitative results focus on data from 690 children – 52 per cent girls, 48 per cent boys – from 125 participating schools:
The Early Development Instrument (EDI), which is a UNESCO-reviewed measurement of early childhood development, was used to measure child development in the following five areas:
Key findings from the analysis include:
An integrative, evaluation report that was informed by: The Social Program Evaluation Group – Queen's University Final Report: Evaluation of the Implementation of the Ontario Full-Day Early Learning Kindergarten Program, Fall 2012 and the Offord Centre for Child Studies – McMaster University The Full Day Kindergarten Early Learning Program Final Report, October 2012; and the Ministry of Education, Government of Ontario.
This report is available in PDF format (480 KB)