THE EFFECTS OF PREKINDERGARTEN ON CLOSING THE ACHIEVEMENT GAP IN BALTIMORE COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLSAlyssa DiMeglio and Allison Cook

Towson University

Spring 2014

BACKGROUND

Noted over the years that children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds have struggled academically in school President Lyndon B. Johnson created the Head Start

program Since 1965, a variety of preschool and early learning

programs have been implemented nationally and globally to aid the academic and social progress of students from various backgrounds

Despite the lack of research for the specific BCPS program, Baltimore County Public Schools’ Superintendent Dallas Dance has proposed a one million dollar increase in spending to expand the prekindergarten program

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

The purpose of the study is to determine whether the Baltimore County Public Schools prekindergarten program is closing the achievement gap between students who are economically disadvantaged from their more advantaged peers.

LITERATURE REVIEW Pigott and Israel’s findings showed children enrolled

in a Head Start program scored higher than those who are the same age and socio-economic status, but not enrolled in a Head Start program the year prior to Kindergarten

Another study completed by Magnuson, Ruhm, & Waldfogel found larger associations related to academic achievement among those children who were economically disadvantaged

Burger published a meta-analysis of recent early childhood care and education studies from Europe, North America, and Asia which found positive association between preschool attendance and cognitive outcomes for students who are economically disadvantaged

HYPOTHESIS

The prekindergarten program within Baltimore County Public Schools will help to close the achievement gap between those defined as having low socioeconomic status and high socioeconomic status.

The hypothesis will be measured by comparing each group’s performance on a pretest and posttest using the Woodcock Johnson III in the areas of math, language, and literacy.

PARTICIPANTS

Baltimore County Public School System Birth date between 9/2/09 and 9/1/10 4 schools randomly chosen from each of the

5 zones 20 students randomly chosen from each

school Total of 400 students, 200 low socio-

economic background and 200 high socio-economic background

To qualify as low SES, student must be eligible for free or reduced meals

MEASURES

Woodcock Johnson III achievement test Teacher will receive training prior to

administration 3 subtests: emergent literacy skills,

emergent language skills, and emergent math skills

1 measure was selected from each subtest: Letter-word identification Picture vocabulary Quantitative concepts

PROCEDURES

Woodcock Johnson will be administered within first 2 weeks of school 15 minute break between subtests

Students will attend prekindergarten program September – May Open Court program Pearson Investigations

Woodcock Johnson will be administered again in May 15 minute break between subtests

DESIGN

A casual-comparative design will be utilized in this study.

Two groups that differ in their socio-economic status will be compared using their performance on the Woodcock Johnson III achievement test in the areas of literacy, language, and math.

DATA ANALYSIS

At the beginning of the school year: Average score for each measure will be calculated for

each group of participants (low SES and high SES) The difference between the two scores will be noted

At the end of the school year: Average score for each measure will be calculated for

each group of participants (low SES and high SES) The difference between the two scores will be noted If the measures of central tendency between the two

groups are closer together at the end of the school year than they were at the beginning of the school year, the data would help to support the hypothesis that enrollment in pre-kindergarten does help to close the achievement gap

DATA ANALYSIS (CONTINUED)

The t-test will allow us to determine whether the scores are significantly different. The t-test will evaluate the real difference

between the means of the groups with the difference projected by chance if the null hypothesis is true

We will utilize a box and whiskers graph in order to display our data visually. The box and whiskers graph will show the distribution of

data (including the first quartile, third quartile and the median), as well as the outliers.

TIMELINE

1 year Request for permission in May 2014 Woodcock Johnson pretest in September

2014 Attendance in prekindergarten September

2014-May 2015 Woodcock Johnson post-test in June 2015 Data analysis at conclusion of data collection

in June 2015

ANTICIPATED RESULTS

Participation in the BCPS prekindergarten program will help to close the achievement gap between students with high and low socioeconomic status.

If the hypothesis is supported, the study would encourage BCPS officials to continue funding the expansion of the prekindergarten program and confirm that the curriculum is an effective means of closing the achievement gap.

Future studies could be conducted in other counties within Maryland to evaluate their prekindergarten programs to determine if their programs effectively help to close the achievement gap between students from different socioeconomic backgrounds.