Experts and advocates spend a lot of time talking about the importance of quality preschool and prekindergarten classrooms. What about kindergarten?

Kindergarten often seems lost in the debate about how to improve early learning. But, the Foundation for Child Development made a move today to change that by issuing a new brief: “PreK-3rd: Putting Full-Day Kindergarten in the Middle.”

The brief argues that full-day kindergarten is often underfunded and ignored, highlighting that only 12 states require school districts to offer full-day kindergarten, even though the grade is a pivotal year that can help close the achievement gap and set up students for later success.

The brief cites research that gains in math and reading during full-day kindergarten narrow the achievement gaps between those at the highest end and the lowest end of achievement by nearly one-third in reading and one-fourth in math.

For too long, Kindergarten has been relegated to the margins of education reform. It is not only time for full-day to become the new standard for Kindergarten, but it is also time for Kindergarten to move from the margins to the middle of discussions about how to improve education systems and increase student achievement. – “Putting Full-Day Kindergarten in the Middle.” 6/10.

The problem is that in this era of massive state and federal budget deficits, kindergarten is too often cut.

Three states, Arizona, Colorado and Kansas, offered plans to cut or eliminate funding for all-day kindergarten, the report said.

Daily news stories across the country reveal that large and small districts alike are - or will be - reducing or altogether eliminating FDK (full-day kindergarten) programs. These cuts are especially troubling because they coincide with an unprecedented time during which student achievement appears to be stagnating and the K-12 system is under intense scrutiny and pressure to increase student learning at each grade level. – “Putting Full-Day Kindergarten in the Middle.”

Another factor driving the need for more full-day kindergarten is the rise of pre-kindergarten.

FDK not only provides a familiar and consistent schedule to children accustomed to attending PreK, but also provides crucial opportunities for children to build upon their PreK experiences that sustain the development of their cognitive, social, and emotional skills.

Despite this, the importance of ensuring that PreK is followed by FDK seems to be missing in many state and school district policy decisions.

At the end, the policy brief offers a good list of recommendations, including creating policies that would require districts to offer full-day kindergarten and states to fund it, adding professional development and early childhood education certification for K-3 teachers and including full-day kindergarten as a key element in any education reform efforts.