Does Full Day Kindergarten Help Kids

Full day kindergarten (FDK) is expanding across North America, but program impacts remain poorly understood. Using administrative data, this paper reports impacts from a targeted program in British Columbia for Aboriginal and English as a Second Language (ESL) students. Staged implementation of FDK created natural controls, allowing unbiased two-stage least squares (instrumental variables) estimates of program impacts. We find that the targeted FDK program increased grade 4 educational attainment, producing statistically and socially significant impacts. Further research, longer follow-up, and rigorous methods are needed to guide FDK policy for the general student population.