Theses and Dissertations

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Hare, R. Dwight

Committee Member

Coats, Linda T.

Committee Member

Coffey, Kenneth

Committee Member

Blendinger, Jack G.

Date of Degree

8-17-2013

Document Type

Dissertation - Open Access

Major

Elementary, Middle, and Secondary Education Administration

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

College

College of Education

Department

Department of Educational Leadership

Abstract

The effect of public school prekindergarten (pre-K) attendance on academic achievement has not been extensively studied for the purpose of funding these programs. The MCT2 scale scores in the areas of language arts and math and the report card number grades for the areas of language arts and math were analyzed for 114 students. Of this number, 49 students attended a public school pre-K program, and 65 students did not attend a public school pre-K program. This study was a causal-comparative study. A repeated measures approach with a between-within design was used. An analysis of covariance, ANCOVA, was used to examine if there was a statistically significant difference in the MCT2 scale scores for language arts for 3rd-grade students who attended a public school pre-K program and students who did not attend a public school pre-K program. In addition, 3 separate t-tests were run for each grade level for language arts and math report card grades. Results revealed that there was a statistically significant difference in the MCT2 language arts mean scale scores. For the area of math, the students who attended a public school pre-K program had comparable MCT2 math mean scale scores with the participants who did not attend a public school pre-K program. For language arts and math report card number grades, students who attended a public school pre-K program had higher report card number grades compared with students who did not attend a public school pre-K program. Based on these findings, it can be implied that public school pre-K attendance was effective for the academic areas language arts and math. It is recommended that public school pre-K programs continue to be funded and implemented for 4-year-old students in the Raleigh School District. The subjects of language arts and math should continue to be instructed for the pre-K students. It is also recommended that public school pre-K programs be funded and implemented in school districts across the state of Mississippi, as well as nationwide.

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11668/20151

Comments

MCT2||academic achievement||early childhood education history||temporal effect of pre-kindergarten programs

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