West Valley City » When she began kindergarten, 5-year-old Betsy Hernandez spoke no English.

Now, nearly halfway through the school year, she's singing along with classmates at Philo T. Farnsworth Elementary School, learning the order of months and knows nearly all the letters of the alphabet.

"I love kindergarten," Betsy said in a small voice Thursday as she arranged colored tiles into the shape of a flower after a math lesson. "In recess I go play with my friends."

Betsy's teacher, Jane Crawford, credits her progress partly to attending all-day kindergarten. Betsy's school, along with about 178 others statewide, is part of the state's $30 million Optional Extended Day Kindergarten program, which is now in its second year.

The program's first year, according to a recent State Office of Education report, was a major success with extended-day kindergartners advancing faster than their half-day peers and few parents turning down the opportunity.

The program is designed to help disadvantaged students get a leg up and is intended for schools with the neediest students. At some schools, only students who score poorly on kindergarten pre-tests are eligible while at other schools, higher-scoring students may also be considered.

Crawford, who taught half-day kindergarten for more than 20 years, said she now can read 10 or 12 books a day with her class whereas before she couldn't get through more than about four. She said she's noticed full-day students learn how to follow directions and stay on task more quickly.

"To do this kind of thing in a half-day situation would be really hard," Crawford said as students quietly practiced math at small tables in the colorful classroom last week.

Reports from school districts about the first year of the statewide program reflect similar results, said Reed Spencer, a coordinator in the curriculum department at the state education office. In all, 38 of the state's 40 districts and seven charter schools receive funding for the program.

"We believe it's the most powerful intervention we've seen come along in a long time," Spencer said. "Five-year-olds can enter school way, way behind. Not all kindergartners walk in the door and are the same."

In the Alpine School District, for example, students who tested into full-day kindergarten scored an average of 152 percent behind regular kindergarten students at the beginning of last school year, according to the district's kindergarten assessment. By the end of the school year, full-day students had actually pulled ahead of their half-day peers by 1 percent.

"These are kids that just haven't had a lot of exposure to the written language," said Darrin Johnson, principal at Hillcrest Elementary School in the Alpine District. "They get an extra three hours of written language help, and they blossom. We didn't have any kids, really, that didn't show improvement."

In 2007, before the program became law, the idea of all-day kindergarten faced opposition from some lawmakers who worried about public education taking children out of their homes too early.

After more than a year of the program, however, educators say parents seem eager to participate. In 80 percent of participating districts, fewer than 5 percent of eligible parents decided not to enroll their children in the optional program.

Sandy Elementary School principal Sandra Dahl-Houlihan said parents of only about 10 eligible students at her school chose not to do full-day kindergarten at the beginning of last school year. But by the middle of last school year, everyone wanted in, she said.

"The kids didn't want to leave because they were having fun and they saw their friends were staying," Dahl-Houlihan said. She said it's also been a help to parents who work all day.

Though Dahl-Houlihan praised the program, she acknowledged it's not perfect. Five-year-old children, for example, can get tired when they spend all day at school, she said. Still, kindergartners are learning more. This year's first-grade teachers don't have to spend as much time reviewing concepts, she said.

"There are drawbacks to it, but they're so minimal compared to the gains we're seeing," she said.

The State Office of Education expects to get the results of a scientific study on the program's first year by WestEd, a nonprofit research, development and service agency, by the end of this year. So far, all the district reports have shown positive results, Spencer said.

The program's $30 million is expected to last for a total of four school years. But Spencer and many other educators hope the program will continue longer.

"If possible, I'd like to see it extended to all schools to give more kids opportunity," Johnson said.