| Four-year-old
children have been attending public schools in Wisconsin for over 150 years. Wisconsin
made a constitutional commitment to early education in 1848 when the State Constitution,
Article X, Section 3, called for school districts to be as uniform as practical
and free to all children between the ages of 4 and 20 years. Four-year-old
kindergarten (4K) attendance peaked in the 1920s and then declined as schools
shifted their emphasis to 5-year-olds. In the 1980s, the state legislature renewed
state aid for 4-year-old kindergarten and expanded state aid for full-day 5-year-old
kindergarten (5K). Many public schools once again started to look at the concept
of universally available four-year-old programming. During the late 1990s, more
districts saw the need to implement 4-year-old kindergarten, and by 2009, over
68% of the school districts operated these programs. | Schools
are taking new approaches for universally available 4K that use a school-community
interface. The key to expansion of 4K is the involvement of a broad range of community
early childhood stakeholders. Community approaches bring together community leaders
representing business, schools, child care, Head Start, parents, recreation, and
parent education to explore the issues and develop community-based approaches
to 4K. They are finding new and innovative approaches that may be school-based
or community-based. For example, some communities have 4-year-old kindergartens
located in a variety of settings including elementary schools, licensed child
care centers, and Head Start programs. One approach has school teachers and support
staff providing the 4K program in established community programs. In another approach,
the school district contracts with established programs that have DPI-licensed
teachers on staff to provide kindergarten. |
