Sowers, Thomas M.
Abstract:
The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine the difference insocial-emotional development among students who were enrolled in a prekindergarten program and those who were not enrolled in a pre-kindergartenprogram, as measured by the Kindergarten Readiness Assessment (KRA). Theresearch also examined the impact that various types of pre-kindergartenprograms had on social-emotional development. Finally, the study was designedto determine whether differences in the social-emotional development of youngchildren, based on the type of pre-kindergarten program attended, were affectedby learning ability, gender, English Learner (EL) status, and ethnicity. Thesample included all kindergarten students who had attended District X between2015 and 2018. A total of 5,200 kindergarten students’ archived KRA resultswere reviewed. This study provided additional educational research to contributeto the current field of findings regarding the impact of early education on thesocial-emotional development of young children. The results from this studywere mixed. Enrollment in a pre-kindergarten program as well as type of prekindergarten program were shown to have made an impact on the socialemotional competence of the students in the sample. The demographics from theresearch study were also shown to have have been impacted by not onlyattendance in an early education program, but by type of pre-kindergartenprogram as well. The results of the testing revealed that learning ability did affectdifferences in the social-emotional development of the sample based on the typeof pre-kindergarten program attended. Additional study was conducted to determine the extent the difference in social-emotional development amongstudents enrolled in different pre-kindergarten programs was affected by gender.The results of the study revealed that gender did affect differences in the socialemotional development of the sample based on the type of pre-kindergartenprogram attended. Further testing was conducted to determine the extent of thedifference in social-emotional development among students who were enrolled indifferent pre-kindergarten programs was affected by EL status. The results of theanalysis showed that EL status affected differences in the social-emotionaldevelopment of the sample used during the study. The final results of the studyshowed that the extent of the difference in social-emotional development amongstudents who were enrolled in different pre-kindergarten programs was affectedby ethnicity. Results of the analysis revealed that ethnicity affected differences inthe social-emotional development of the sample based on the type of prekindergarten program attended.