Browsing by Subject "Preschool children -- Research"
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Item The Effect of Pre-K and Other Prior Experiences on Early Literacy and Reading Success in Kindergarten(2011-05) Schafer, Colleen; Masters of EducationThe purpose of this study was to determine whether differences in experiences prior to kindergarten have an impact on children’s early literacy and reading success in kindergarten. Students came from a convenience sample and were not randomly assigned to prior experience groups, which included public Pre-Kindergarten (Pre-K), private preschool or nursery school, childcare or daycare center, or home-based care. The DIBELS was used to determine children’s level of success in several areas of early literacy both in the beginning and the middle of the 2010-2011 school year. In the beginning of the year, children were administered the Letter Naming Fluency and Initial Sound Fluency subtests. In the middle of the year, children were administered the same subtests in addition to the Phoneme Segmentation Fluency and Nonsense Word Fluency subtests. No significant differences were found in any subtest between children of different prior experience groups. Therefore, the null hypothesis failed to be rejected. This paper discusses practical and theoretical implications, such as the value of public Pre-K in reducing the early achievement gap for at-risk children, as well as threats to validity. This researcher makes recommendations for future research, including the ideas that research be conducted over a longer period of time and that children be tested in other areas using different testing instruments.Item The Impact of Social Narratives on Prekindergarten Students’ Social Skills(2014-05) Ickes, Nicole M.; Masters of EducationThe purpose of this study was to determine whether providing supplemental opportunities to learn about and practice social skills using social narratives impacts pre-kindergartners’ use of two targeted social skills. The participants of this study were enrolled in prekindergarten at an urban school in The Bronx, New York for the 2013-2014 school year. All participants received regular social skills instruction while the treatment group also received a social narrative intervention specifically targeting sharing and appropriate use of personal space. The treatment group participated in 20 minute lessons using social narratives for two weeks. Each week focused on one of the two specific targeted behaviors. It was hypothesized that there would be no difference in the frequency with which the targeted social skills were demonstrated in lunch and free centers by students who participated in the social narratives intervention compared to that of similar peers who did not participate in the intervention. Based on the results, the null hypothesis was retained for both the lunch and free centers settings in which observations were made. Research in this area should continue to determine the best methods for social skills instruction.