Reading Level Change between Kindergarten and Third Grade for Students Attending Title I and Non-Title I Full Day Kindergarten

Abstract

The reading level a student has attained by third grade is crucial to overall successin school, post-secondary education, employability, lifetime earnings, and the risk ofincarceration. The purpose of this study was to investigate to what extent there is adifference between the kind of full-day kindergarten a student attended and the student’sreading level by the end of third grade as measured on the Qualitative Reading Inventory(QRI). A quantitative research design was used to measure the association betweenquantitative variables. The dependent variable was change in reading level. Theindependent variables were type of school attending (Title I or non-Title I), studentgender, student qualification for free or reduced lunch, and student minority or nonminority. For this research, minority included the following groups, Hispanic, Asian,Native American, African American, Pacific Islander, and Multi-Ethnic. Additionally,non-minority included students categorized as White. The population included studentscontinuously enrolled in the same elementary school during kindergarten, first grade,second grade and third grade during the 2010-2011 to the 2013-2014 school years.Students in the sample were in full-day kindergarten during the 2010-2011 year.Hypotheses concerning the relationship between kind of kindergarten, full-day at a Title Ischool or full-day at a non-Title I school, were developed. Each correlation wascalculated to index the strength and the direction of the relationship between twovariables. A Chi Square test was conducted to test for the statistical significance. Withthe exception of students qualifying for reduced lunch, there was a statistically significantrelationship found when comparing student groups at Title-I and non-Title I schools.This study has implications for district leadership and staff who are working to ensure all students read on grade level by the end of third grade. Included in recommendations forfuture research, is replicating the study to include students participating in half-daykindergarten.