Full-day kindergarten programs do not always help children over the long term. That’s according to a new study by researchers in Chicago and Pittsburgh.

Now, the study does say full-day kindergarten gives students a slight head-start in reading and math, but the study’s co-author, Christine Li-Grining, says after that…

LI-GRINING: The kids who are in part-day kindergarten start to catch up to the kids who are in full-day kindergarten. And by third grade, their academic growth rates are exactly the same.

Li-Grining is an assistant professor of psychology at Loyola University. She says the difference comes down to social backgrounds. Kids in part-time kindergarten tend to come from families that provide more learning at home. Full-day kindergarteners tend to come from poorer familes, and mostly learn at school. Li-Grining says by fifth grade, part-day kindergarteners pull ahead of their full-day counterparts.

The study is published in the current issue of Child Development.

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