Date of Award

2001

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Education

Abstract

Researchers, educators, and administrators have intended to improve school achievement for low-income children by providing Title I pre-kindergarten in public schools. It is assumed that third grade low-income children would be more prepared for the Indiana Statewide Testing forEducational Progress (ISTEP+) if they had participated in Title I pre-kindergarten programs. The purpose of this study is to determine whether participation in Title I pre-kindergarten improves the ISTEP+ battery scores of students, and to measure factors that might be related to student achievement. Among the predictors investigated in this study are a program factor (participation in Title I pre-kindergarten) and personal attributes of students (parental status, sex, retention of grade, socio-economic status measured by free/reduced lunch count, and race). Data for this study were collected by Fort Wayne Community Schools system in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Using this information, the researcher used multiple regression procedures to measure the relationship of each predictor with the criterion variable, ISTEP+ battery scores of third grade students. Four hundred twenty-five Title I students were included in this study. The findings indicated that participation in Title I pre-kindergarten and personal attributes were related to student achievement as measured by the ISTEP+ battery scores. Additionally, low-income students were found to score lower than their non-poverty peers. Sex of students, socio-economic status of full-pay lunch count, race, and participation in Title I pre-kindergarten as isolated variables were found non-significant in predicting student achievement. Further research is recommended to investigate the effects of Title I pre-kindergarten on the ISTEP+ battery scores of students. It is recommended that this study be repeated under similar conditions.

Download

Share

COinS