Hatboro-Horsham School District Launches Full–Day Kindergarten After Multi-Methodological Analysis from Hanover

Case Study
Hatboro-Horsham School District

The Hanover team produced a thorough analysis that ensured Hatboro-Horsham School District the information required to assess a move to a full-day kindergarten.

Challenge

Hatboro-Horsham School District (Hatboro-Horsham) was considering a shift from a half-day to full-day kindergarten program. However, the district needed to understand if the shift would be operationally feasible for the district, have clear benefits to students, and receive support from the local community.

Solution

Hanover Research devised a multi-step approach to conduct a full-day kindergarten assessment, which included:

Analyzing best practices to study the national trends, challenges, and benefits t o a full-day kindergarten program.
Profiling peer districts in the Northeastern United States through in-depth interviews to ascertain how similar districts implemented a full-day kindergarten program.
Surveying 1,700 community members that quantified interest and support for a full-day kindergarten program.

Outcome

Hanover’s analysis revealed key insights into the benefits of a full-day program as well as best practices for implementation and planning.

Because of Hanover’s analysis, Hatboro-Horsham:

Established a Full-Day Kindergarten Feasibility Task Force to lead the program planning and evaluation process.
Conducted a cost analysis that revealed the district could support a full-day program with grant funds, transportation offsets, and staff reallocation.
Approved launch of full-day kindergarten program.

The Hanover team produced a thorough analysis that ensured we had all the information required to assess a move to a full-day kindergarten. From understanding student benefits and community support to outlining how we should go about enacting this change, the analysis gave us the concrete information we needed.
—Dr. Monica J. Taylor, Assistant Superintendent