ACADEMIC AND SOCIAL EFFECTS OF HALF-DAY AND ALL-DAY KINDERGARTEN (PARENT INVOLVEMENT, SELF-CONCEPT, ACADEMIC READINESS, SOCIAL ADJUSTMENT)

LOIS E BOWER, Purdue University

Abstract

This study investigated whether all-day kindergarten students differed to any significant degree from half-day kindergarten students on measures of academic readiness, social and school adjustment, self-concept, and parent involvement. Fifty eight students were selected for the study from a total enrollment of one hundred thirty students in kindergarten in the 1984-1985 school year. A standardized readiness test entitled the Metropolitan Readiness Test (MRT) was administered to the subjects as a pretest and posttest measure of academic readiness. The California Preschool Social Competency Scale was administered to the subjects as a pretest and posttest measure of social and school adjustment. The Purdue Self-Concept Scale for Preschool Children was used as a pretest and posttest measure of self-concept. The Parent Involvement Checklist was administered as a pretest and posttest measure of the quantity of parent involvement in the kindergarten program, and the Parent Involvement Summary was used as a qualitative measure of parent involvement. The experiment utilized a 2 x 2 x 2 factorial design with two levels for each of three classifications: program, school, and gender. Univariate analysis of covariance was used to provide statistical control of initial group differences and test of significance for main effects and interactions. The findings of this study indicated that the performance of all-day kindergarten students was not significantly different on any of the dependent variables--academic readiness, social and school adjustment, self-concept--from half-day kindergarten students. Using a non-parametric test parent involvement was greater in the all-day kindergarten program.

Degree

Ph.D.

Subject Area

Preschool education

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