The Knoch School District made a significant change regarding its youngest students when it approved the switch to all-day kindergarten ahead of the 2023-24 school year.

The district became part of a growing trend of schools across the country that are offering all-day kindergarten in the hopes that it will help students better acclimate to full-day instruction and vastly improve test scores.

Now heading into the second year of the change, Knoch superintendent David Foley said the move has been a beneficial one for all parties involved.

“I’ve gotten all positive feedback from the teachers that were involved,” Foley said. “They were all very receptive to the change and getting the chance to work with students more in-depth. I also received a few emails from parents who were very pleased with the instruction their children were obtaining. Overall, I just thought the feedback was great from all parties.”

The school conducted studies and research for approximately a year before ultimately concluding the switch would have more pros than cons.

“We did a full year of study looking at schools locally in Butler and Allegheny counties as well as schools across the state and national education statistics,” Foley said. “We took our time and had lots of conversations on what was best for our students. When we got those results, we shared them with the board and ultimately made the decision in the spring of 2023.”

According to U.S. News & World Report, Pennsylvania is one of 41 states where districts are required to offer some form of kindergarten, whether that be half-day or full-day programs. However, kindergarten is not compulsory in the state, meaning students do not have to attend.

The benefits also go beyond the rise of reading and math scores. Like a lot of districts, one of Knoch’s main goals was to have students stay in school longer to get them adjusted to what they will face in future years.

“When we collected data, the reading and math scores were all very good,” added Foley. “We saw student’s performance increase across the board. It gave students more time to focus on their academics. We just had the idea in mind about increasing test scores while also finding out what was developmentally appropriate.”

The move also had little impact on the district financially, according to Foley, who has been Knoch’s superintendent since January 2018.

“It really did not impact us much at all as far as finances,” said Foley. “The transportation was already accounted for within our budget. We just had to hire one additional teacher to be able to tie everything together.”

Knoch will hold its annual kindergarten orientation at 10 a.m. Aug. 15 with the first day of school for students being Aug. 21. The district is anticipating the same type of success it saw in the first year of the revised program.

“For it being their first experience in school, I thought the students handled the change really well,” Foley said. A lot of the work for the teachers was trying to build stamina with the kids and to use their time wisely. The full day made students more comfortable with their teachers and peers, and the teachers just had more time to spend with the students.”