The University of Southern Mississippi The Aquila Digital Community Dissertations Spring 5-2012 Pre-Kindergarten Education: Is There a Relationship Between Pre- Kindergarten Participation and Student Achievement? Carol Goldate Barlow University of Southern Mississippi Follow this and additional works at: https://aquila.usm.edu/dissertations Part of the Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons, Elementary and Middle and Secondary Education Administration Commons, Elementary Education and Teaching Commons, and the Pre-Elementary, Early Childhood, Kindergarten Teacher Education Commons Recommended Citation Barlow, Carol Goldate, "Pre-Kindergarten Education: Is There a Relationship Between Pre-Kindergarten Participation and Student Achievement?" (2012). Dissertations. 517. https://aquila.usm.edu/dissertations/517 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by The Aquila Digital Community. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of The Aquila Digital Community. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The University of Southern Mississippi PRE-KINDERGARTEN EDUCATION: IS THERE A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PRE-KINDERGARTEN PARTICIPATION AND STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT? by Carol Goldate Barlow Abstract of a Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate School of The University of Southern Mississippi in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy May 2012 ABSTRACT PRE-KINDERGARTEN EDUCATION: IS THERE A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PRE-KINDERGARTEN PARTICIPATION AND STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT? by Carol Goldate Barlow May 2012 The purpose of this study was to determine if the intervention of attending public school pre-kindergarten had an impact on student achievement as measured by the Louisiana Educational Assessment Program (LEAP) considering gender, socioeconomic status, and grade retention. This research study included both quantitative and qualitative data. Quantitative data included all 2009-2010 fourth-grade LEAP math and English language arts scaled scores collected from a specified public school district. To determine the impact of pre-kindergarten attendance on student achievement, the LEAP scores of students who attended public school pre-kindergarten were compared to LEAP scores of students in the same school district who did not attend pre-kindergarten. Qualitative data included completed teacher questionnaires which related to kindergarten readiness. Frequencies and percentages were given for each of the independent variables. An independent t test found a statistically significant relationship between pre- kindergarten attendance and student achievement. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) procedure was used to analyze the data as a function of gender, socioeconomic status, and grade retention. The ANOVA comparing LEAP English language arts scaled scores by gender and pre-kindergarten attendance produced a significant main effect. ii The ANOVA conducted using LEAP math scaled scores by gender was nonsignificant. The ANOVA comparing both the LEAP English language arts scaled scores and math scaled scores by socioeconomic status and pre-kindergarten attendance produced significant main effects. To determine the relationship between pre-kindergarten attendance and grade retention, a cross-tabulation of the data was performed. The qualitative data were analyzed using a simple frequency distribution. iii COPYRIGHT BY CAROL GOLDATE BARLOW 2012 The University of Southern Mississippi PRE-KINDERGARTEN EDUCATION: IS THERE A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PRE-KINDERGARTEN PARTICIPATION AND STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT? by Carol Goldate Barlow A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate School of The University of Southern Mississippi in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Approved: Ronald A. Styron ________________ Director James T. Johnson____________________ David E. Lee_______________________ Rose M. McNeese___________________ Susan A. Siltanen___________________ Dean of the Graduate School May 2012 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS My most sincere appreciation goes to Dr. Ronald Styron, my committee chair. Dr. Styron guided me through this process with professionalism and encouragement, second to none. Thank you to my committee members–Dr. J. T. Johnson, Dr. David Lee, and Dr. Rose McNeese. Each of you has demonstrated the characteristics of a true leader. Your dedication has been inspirational! It is with deepest appreciation that I acknowledge my husband, Ron, for realizing my abilities and encouraging me to embark upon this educational journey. Enormous gratitude goes to my son, Levan, for being the inspiration for this study. When I look at you, Levan, I see one of God’s greatest miracles. My heartfelt thanks to my parents, Andrew and Aura Goldate, for teaching me that anything is achievable through hard work. Your loving support through this endeavor has enabled me to fulfill a dream. Enormous thanks to my sisters for all you have done to allow me time to complete this study! Thank you, Lauren and Marissa, for giving me a reason to smile as I spent endless hours sitting in front of a computer. Many thanks to Lenda and Gwen for the moments of laughter and for patiently lending an ear when I needed one! v TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................. v LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................... viii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ........................................................................................... ix CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................... 1 Statement of the Problem Purpose of the Study Research Questions Definition of Terms Delimitations Assumptions Justification Summary II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE ................................................ 19 Theoretical Framework Evaluations of State-Funded Pre-K Programs Pre-K and Student Achievement: The Fiscal Relationship Pre-K and Student Achievement: The Academic Relationship Summary III. METHODOLOGY .................................................................................. 71 Research Design Participants Instrumentation Procedures Data Analysis Summary IV. RESULTS ...................................................................................................... 82 Data Summary vi V. SUMMARY ................................................................................................ 104 Conclusions and Discussion Limitations Recommendations for Policy and Practice Recommendations for Future Research Summary APPENDIXES ............................................................................................................... 114 REFERENCES .............................................................................................................. 120 vii LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Results of Child-Parent Center on Academic Achievement ................................ 57 2. Achievement Levels for Fourth-Grade LEAP ..................................................... 72 3. Demographics for Schools A-T ........................................................................... 76 4. School Performance Scores and Performance Labels for Schools A-T .............. 77 5. Frequencies and Percentages of Independent Variables of Students Enrolled in Pre-K During the 2004-2005 School Year ........................................ 84 6. Group Statistics for Pre-K .................................................................................... 85 7. Number of Students, Mean Scale Scores, and Standard Deviation of Students’ ELA Scale Scores Organized by Gender......................................... 87 8. Number of Students, Mean Scale Scores, and Standard Deviation of Students’ Math Scale Scores Organized by Gender ....................... 88 9. Number of Students, Mean Scale Scores, and Standard Deviation of Students’ ELA Scaled Scores Organized by Socioeconomic Status ............... 92 10. Number of Students, Mean Scale Scores, and Standard Deviation of Students’ Math Scaled Scores Organized by Socioeconomic Status ................... 93 11. Cross-tabulation Between Pre-K Attendance and Student Retention .................. 96 12. Cross-tabulation Between Pre-K Attendance and Gender ................................... 99 13. Cross-tabulation Between Pre-K Attendance and SES Background ................. 101 viii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1. The interaction between gender of students and pre-K attendance with the mean of English language arts scaled scores used as the dependent variable ............................................................................................... 89 2. The interaction between gender of students and pre-K attendance with the mean of math scaled scores used as the dependent variable .................. 90 3. The interaction between socioeconomic background of students and pre-K attendance with the mean of English language arts scaled scores used as the dependent variable ....................................................... 94 4. The interaction between gender of students and pre-K attendance with the mean of math scaled scores used as the dependent variable .................. 95 ix 1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Results drive decisions. Technology continues