JEFFERSON TWP — A full-day kindergarten program has been an effective tool for raising the literacy scores of 17 South Butler School District children.

At Wednesday’s school board meeting, district officials learned that low-skilled students who began full-day kindergarten in the fall scored better than some students in half-day classes on recent tests.

“We’re going to continue to run the program and continue to refine it,” said Dale Lumley, superintendent, who added that no decision has been made on the number of students who will participate in 2013-14.

Students in the pilot program are those who had the lowest test scores on April and September kindergarten screenings, said Kristy Love, a kindergarten teacher. Children who did poorly on the April screenings were placed in Knoch’s morning kindergarten classes. Those in the morning classes who scored lowest on September tests were offered a place in the pilot program, she said.

Students began the full-day program in October. They learned lower-case and capital letters and letter-sound correspondence, along with rhyming and other literacy skills.

In January, full-day kindergarten students got the three highest scores on a literacy skills test called DIBELS. All 134 kindergarteners, both full- and half-day students, took the test. Seven of the top 16 scores belonged to the full-day students.

Greg Hajek, primary school principal, said the children have made “phenomenal” progress, including those with speech and language problems.

The full-day program offers children the opportunity to practice their literacy skills several times a day, said Love. The children are taught in a classroom, a small group, and then practice alone and on computers, she said, reinforcing what they’ve learned.

In contrast, half-day students have less time for literacy skills as they cover the calendar, mathematics, science and social studies.

“The numbers of students in regular kindergarten prevents small group instructions,” said Hajek.

Half-day kindergarten classes have about 22 students, he said.

Parents have praised the full-day pilot, said Suzanne Atwell, another kindergarten teacher who works with the students. On a questionnaire the teachers sent home, parents said students have improved literacy and social skills, and have greater self-esteem and confidence in their ability to learn, Atwell said.

She said full-day students also work on reading and spelling words, distinguishing long and short vowels and producing complete sentences.

At the same time, the teachers, including Jennifer Shipe, expressed concern that some afternoon students who would have benefitted from the program were not included.Three more morning kindergarten students were added to the program in January, but no afternoon kindergarten students were. It would have been detrimental to remove the children from their peer group, said Hajek.

Instead, resources available to the afternoon classes are being pulled to help them, he said.

At the other end of the spectrum, two students in the full-day class were socially and academically ready to move on, Love said. However, parents asked that they stay in the full-day program, she said, and so they did.

The district added $1,000 to its kindergarten budget for the full-day program, said Jason Davidek, district spokesman.