Date of Award

Spring 8-1-2002

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Educational Leadership

First Advisor

Robert Boyd

Second Advisor

Robert George

Third Advisor

Gregory Ulm

Abstract

The purpose of this dissertation was to compare superintendents' perceptions of their reasons for implementing full day kindergarten in their schools based on twenty-seven literature based elements relative to corporation location, size, and socio-economic status. These twenty-seven elements of full day kindergarten were clustered into three independent categories: student learner benefit, social adjustment benefit, and school corporation community benefit. The population for this study was the 115 Indiana Public School Superintendents that implement full day kindergarten in their schools. The superintendents were surveyed to glean their perception as to how important the twenty-seven literature based elements were in their decision making process for implementing full day kindergarten in their schools. Furthermore, they identified demographic information about their school corporation, size, location, and socioeconomic status. The results of the study showed there were no significant differences in superintendents' perceptions on reasons for implementing full day kindergarten relative to their size, location, or socio-economic status based on student learner benefit, social adjustment, and community needs. However, certain findings were identified based on this study. The twenty-seven characteristics of full day kindergarten outlined in this study were statistically reliable and researched based. According to the mean scores of all twenty-seven items in the survey, the items that were most important in the superintendents' decision making process for implementing full day kindergarten centered on early literacy skills and language development. The items that were of least importance to the superintendents' decision making had to do with full day kindergarten eliminating the need for mid-day transportation.

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