In both Europe and the United States, students with disabilities (SWDs) are increasingly starting kindergarten in traditional school settings. And even though there are more-and-more SWDs starting kindergarten in traditional schools (Gottfried, 2017), the research field knows very little about whether full-day kindergarten (FDK) versus part-day kindergarten (PDK) is more beneficial for SWDs over the long term.

Not knowing the effects of FDK for SWDs is a significant oversight – both the utilization of FDK has increased and has the projected rates of SWDs who will be in traditional schools in upcoming decades. Therefore, policy implications about the general short- and long-term effectiveness of FDK cannot be properly made without knowing the effects on all students, including SWDs. Therefore, this study was the first to ask the following two research questions:

1. Do long-term absenteeism outcomes differ for SWDs in FDK versus PDK?

2. Does this differ by type of disability?

            We specifically focus on absenteeism given that SWDs are much more likely to have higher absences than students without disabilities, and having such high rates of absenteeism hinders both short- and long-term achievement and developmental outcomes (Alexander, Entwisle & Horsey, 1997; Gershenson, Jacknowitz & Brannegan, 2016; Gottfried, 2014; Morrissey, Hutchison & Winsler, 2014). Hence, we have chosen to focus on what school factors might be linked to increasing or mitigating this behavior.

            Only one known study has examined whether attendance patterns differ in FDK versus PDK for SWDs. Gottfried (2017) found that SWDs in FDK had more absences at the end of kindergarten compared to SWDs in PDK. Longer-term absence outcomes were unavailable at the time of that study – hence the necessity for more research with updated data.

            Given the little research in this area, policy makers and practitioners have mostly relied on speculation as to whether the long-term absence effects of attending FDK might be larger than attending PDK. And because of the little evidence and support in this area, they remained divided on whether SWDs benefit from attending FDK versus PDK.

            Proponents of a part-day program might state that a FDK program and the associated stress might be particularly poignant, given physical, learning, emotional, and developmental challenges with which these children enter school (Janus, Lefort, Cameron, & Kopechanski, 2007; Kazak & Marvin, 1984; Ray, 2003). That is, in a longer school day with greater hours spent on academics and fewer hours spent with parents, SWDs in FDK may feel higher degrees of stress, linking to even greater negative attitudes towards school, increased school refusal behavior, and higher absences. This dislike for school (and hence absence behavior) begins early and might have long-term negative ramifications.

            As opposed to PDK, being in a longer school day might provide even more access to key instructional supports and special educational services to set SWDs on a stronger academic trajectory over the long-term. That is, a greater number of hours of specialized services provided to children in FDK may help to ease the academic transition into primary school. In turn, the greater degree of supports in FDK may smooth the transition to school for SWDs, hence further easing the stress and thereby reducing negative attitudes towards school and lowering the potential for school absences in kindergarten and in years afterwards.

Our study is a quantitative case study of the U.S. We relied on the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study – Kindergarten Class of 2011 (ECLS-K:2011). The ECLS-K:2011 is a nationally representative longitudinal dataset compiled by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) at the U.S. Department of Education. Teachers reported student absences in the spring of each year, and at the time of this study, these reports were available through the spring of fourth grade on this sample. Surveys were administered to parents, teachers, and school administrators as well in each wave of data collection. After imputation, the final sample of children in this study included those who entered kindergarten with a disability (n=2,120). Our outcome measures were as follows. As consistent with prior research using ECLS-K data (e.g., Gottfried, 2017), two variables of absenteeism were explored. The first was the number of days absent from school. Teachers were asked to report the number of days absent that each child in the ECLS-K study had been absent from school. In the survey, the teacher selected from a set of answer choices: 0, 1-4, 5-7, 8-10, 11-19, and 20 or more. Categories for 1-4, 5-7, 8-10, and 11-19 were recoded as midpoints, and the categories for 0 or 20 or more took the mode value. This is common practice with other categorical measures for survey responses using ECLS-K data (Guarino et al., 2013). The second measure was an indicator for being chronically absent. As consistent with prior research (Gottfried, Egalite, & Kirksey, 2016), chronic absence was defined as missing more than two weeks of the school year. Hence, children whose teachers indicated that they had missed either 11-19 or 20 or more days of school received a value of 1, and all other students received a value of 0. The key independent variable is whether the child went to FDK versus PDK, which we can identify from school records. Our independent variables include student demographics, student behavior, school attitudes, family structure, socioeconomic status, family employment and education, and prekindergarten and kindergarten characteristics. With these variables, we run a baseline multilevel regression model, accounting for the fact that SWDs are nested within schools. We run this model for each of our spring outcomes (kindergarten, grade 1, grade 2, grade 3, and grade 4). Secondly, we then run these models separately by disability groupings, such as for students with learning disabilities.

SWDs enrolled in FDK experienced greater numbers of absences and higher likelihoods of chronic absenteeism in kindergarten, which replicate findings from Gottfried (2017). Yet when examining rates of absences in the first, second, third, and fourth grades, no associations between FDK and absenteeism emerged. That is, our results suggest an immediate tapering effect of FDK on absenteeism, as SWDs who were enrolled in FDK did not experience better or worse attendance rates than those SWDs who were only enrolled in PDK. There were no differences based on type of disability. Some differences based on student characteristics emerged. Our results helped to explore the presence of a relationship between FDK versus FDK participation and absenteeism among a nationally representative sample of SWDs. Consequently, we argue the results of this work will represent an important contribution to the collective understanding of how FDK affects rising cohorts of schoolchildren with disabilities. Our results might inform numerous countries who are considering how to best include SWDs into traditional kindergartens. Specifically, the results of our study underscore the importance of understanding how programs and interventions affect SWDs in kindergarten. Out of all years of primary school, it has been documented that absenteeism is indeed highest in kindergarten (Balfanz & Byrnes, 2012), and this is especially true for SWDs (Gottfried, 2017). This study presents good and bad news for policymakers concerned with SWDs attending FDK. While these SWDs experienced negative associations related to absenteeism initially, these associations disappear in the later years of schooling. That said, kindergarten is an extremely formative year of schooling that sets the trajectory for future academic and developmental success (Duncan et al., 2007; Olson, Sameroff, Kerr, Lopez, & Wellman, 2005), and thus, missing in-school time during this year raises significant concerns for the success of our world’s youngest students.

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