Date of Award

2015

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Psychology

Abstract

The U.S. government appropriates billions of dollars each year to all states and territories in America through Head Start and Title I programs (Hurley, 2014). These monies are either solely dedicated to school readiness or can be used to narrow the readiness gap by the time the child is of school age. Even with this financial support, Indiana was still one of 10 states that did not contribute its own monies or provide guidance for implementing a statewide pre-kindergarten program (National Institute for EarlyEducation Research, 2014). Without governance at the state level, no certification requirements for program administrators or curricular requirements for federally-funded pre-kindergarten programs are in place in Indiana public schools. This quantitative study attempted to close the gap in the research by establishing what type of pre-kindergarten curricula has been chosen by Indiana Title I program administrators, calculate the realized allocations for the cognitive, physical/motor, and social/emotional components (Landry, 2005), and determine if differences existed among chosen curricula and subsequent kindergarten success. Data analyses involved Pearson correlations and analysis of variance (ANOVA). The study will benefit school districts that want to determine the impact of pre-kindergarten programming on kindergarten success. It will also benefit the governing bodies in the state of Indiana by calling attention to the disarray in how pre-kindergarten data are kept in the public schools.

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