The Effect of Pre-K and Other Prior Experiences on Early Literacy and Reading Success in Kindergarten
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2011-05
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Masters of Education
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Abstract
The 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.