The Stretch to Kindergarten program is a six-week school readiness program that serves children with limited prior preschool experience during the summer prior to their kindergarten entry. The program also includes a parent component offered before and throughout the summer program.

AIR continued an evaluation of the Stretch to Kindergarten program in Mountain View, California in 2012, the program’s fourth year. This evaluation of the 2012 STK program aims to answer several research questions:

1. What is the level of quality of Stretch to Kindergarten classrooms, as measured by the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) and the Early Language and Literacy Classroom Observation (ELLCO) dual language learner addendum?
2. How do parents’ knowledge and skills change over the course of their participation in the program?
3. How do children’s language skills change over the course of their participation in the program? How do STK children perform on a measure of pre-academic skills?
4. How do children who participated in Stretch to Kindergarten perform on reading and math assessments in kindergarten, first, and second grade compared with their peers who did not attend the program?
5. How do kindergarten, first, and second grade attendance rates of children who participated in Stretch to Kindergarten compare to those of their peers who did not participate in the program?