Hooray!!!

Susan Snelling no longer has to rush. For the first time, the Wildwood Elementary School kindergarten teacher has a full day with her students.

Middletown City Schools implemented all-day kindergarten for every student this year. The change nearly tripled the amount of time the youngsters spend in school.

"There are so many benefits truly to all-day kindergarten," Snelling said.

"There are just huge, huge gains there," she said. "We're able to do much more teaching."

Districtwide, test results show the extra time in school is working.

Middletown students take a reading assessment in September, which gauges skill levels when they start school.

Then in January, they take another, more advanced assessment to measure if they are on pace with how much a student should have learned.

In the first year of all-day kindergarten, 43 percent of students met the benchmark in the first test and 72 percent met the benchmark just three months later.

Results from the 2007-08 school year, when some students were at kindergarten all day, show the same upward trend.

Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland wants every Ohio school to see those kind of benefits.

Strickland has proposed a plan that, among many reforms, would require every school district in the state to offer all-day kindergarten by fiscal year 2012.

Middletown Senior Director of Learning Betsy Carter said the longer day doesn't mean a nap time.

"It really is content time," said Carter, who said the students are exposed to art, music and physical education during the full day.

For Snelling's class, the extra time has led to measurable results, such as more students putting words together, sounding them out and writing.

At this point last year, two or three children would be reading in Snelling's class. This year, 12 of the 26 students are reading.

"They're much further along than last year or any previous year," she said.

Although Snelling said a few students might not be able to handle the long day, that's not a problem for 5-year-old Zaidyn Duggins.

"I like to learn a lot. I like to play with my friends and do cool stuff," Zaidyn said.

"My favorite thing is learning," he said, pausing. "And lunch."

"It's a long day of school," he said. "But I love my teacher, so that's why I like it."