All education professionals can benefit from ongoing professional development. And yes, certainly kindergarten teachers should be well trained in early education in order to provide a high quality full-day kindergarten program.

In Massachusetts, school districts that receive the Full-Day Kindergarten (FDK) grant are required to have a local School Readiness Committee that is comprised of a mix of public and private professionals, parents, district leadership, and community members. This is a key point through which the early childhood community can and should take an active role in guiding FDK program development, to ensure quality programs. I believe it is our professional responsibility as a field to take an active role in this process.

We are extremely fortunate in Massachusetts to have a strong state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education that provides outstanding leadership in the area of high quality kindergarten programs. Their steadfast commitment to quality has been instrumental in supporting those of us in the field who are developing these programs according to what we know about developmentally appropriate practice. Their requirement that funded classrooms become NAEYC accredited has helped steer the quality of the programs in the right direction.

I agree with Gwen’s suggestion that elementary principals need to get involved in early education. The CAYL institute is doing an outstanding job offering this type of support to elementary principals. The challenge for our field is how to ensure that many more principals engage in learning the ropes of high quality early education so that they can knowledgably support their kindergarten programs.

Finally, I could not be more proud of the full-day kindergarten program in my community – Milton. The teachers with whom I work are well versed in the tenets of early education, are thrilled to have the time to provide the kinds of opportunities they’ve been wanting to provide for years, and are pleased to have support from the district and state levels. The program is well paced and responsive to children’s needs. Parents are voting with their feet and the program has grown leaps and bounds because of the fine work they’re doing. While we struggle with the finances, requiring the district to charge a modest tuition, the sliding fee scale offers those that need it the most the opportunity to participate for free – as it should and hopefully will be for all before too long.